CS Ogamba gives timeline for releasing capitation for verified schools
Education Cabinet Secretary Juluis Ogamba has said the government has released capitation and verified 38,000 schools across the country.
Speaking on Sunday, October 5, 2025, in Kasarani Area, where he joined hundreds of teachers who came together to commemorate World Teachers’ Day 2025, Ogamba announced that the government will complete the verification of the remaining schools and learners in the next 10 days to pave the way for the release of school capitation to the institutions.
You might also like
“We are undertaking a comprehensive verification exercise to ascertain the actual number of schools and learners at the basic education level across the country. Consequently, we are only releasing capitation to schools whose learners have already been verified,” Ogamba stated
Elsewhere, Saboti Member of Parliament Caleb Amisi has raised concerns over the school capitation system, warning that funds meant to support needy students are not effectively reaching parents and pupils.
The CS said that the verification process is necessary to ensure that the government disburses funds to legitimate primary, junior, and secondary schools and students, to ensure seamless learning activities ahead of national examinations.
“Capitation to institutions has already been released to them, and the verification exercise is nearing completion, and we should receive a comprehensive report within the next 10 days, which will inform future decisions of the ministry based on science, evidence, and data, so that going forward, there are no gaps in funding,” Ogamba explained.
He further noted that determining the exact number of schools and students in schools will also be fundamental in ensuring that the education sector does not experience budget cuts, a move that has caused uproar among the teachers’ union in the recent past.
“If we have the exact number of schools and students, then it means there can never be a deduction, but if we do not know the number, we give room for the slashing of the budget to happen, and this is why we are doing the verification process,” the CS said.
Ghost schools headache
Also watch: Isiolo KNUT officials blast government for funding ghost schools over existing ones.
Ogamba’s announcement comes days after the Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok revealed that the ministry had uncovered over 50,000 ghost students in secondary schools during the verification process.
This means that the government has lost over Ksh1.1 billion sponsoring these students every year, making a total of Ksh4.4 billion over the course of the students’ lives in secondary schools.
The PS said that after the verification process is complete and the ghost students and schools are weeded out, the total number of learners in these institutions might decrease by 10 per cent, as well as the number of schools.
“We are expecting a huge reduction in the number of students by 5 to 10 per cent, and we are also expecting a huge reduction in the number of schools. I wouldn’t tell you the percentage now, but we are expecting a huge reduction, and it’s going to affect results, which is going to impact the resources we are sending to schools,” Bitok said.
Ghost students
Former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Wilson Sossion, speaking during an interview, sounded the alarm over the existence of ghost students in schools, warning that the scheme has been syphoning capitation funds meant for genuine learners.
“I raised my concerns about wiring capitation money without auditing, and what has come out is that with the verification the ministry is undertaking before releasing money, there actually exist ghost students that have been used to wire money to schools,” Sossion said.
