Schools will now be expected to capture all learners through the National Education Management Information System, NEMIS, portal; including those without birth certificates. This is the latest directive from the Ministry of Education in a bid to ensure all learners are tracked. In a circular dated 5th January, 2019 the Principal Secretary to the State Department of Early Learning and Basic Education (Dr Belio Kipsang) notes that schools which may have encountered problems for learners without birth certificates can now use the learners’ admission numbers to register them on NEMIS.
“As you are all aware, some schools have experienced a challenge in capturing learners on NEMIS. This is as a result of some learners lacking birth certificates which are a mandatory requirement in generating UPIs (Unique Personal Identifiers) for students,” notes Dr Kipsang in the circular copied to all Regional Coordinators of Education and County Directors of Education.
Dr Kipsag now advises schools to register the learners without birth certificates by using the respective school’s Unique Identification Code (UIC) as a prefix; followed by the learner’s admission number. “Henceforth, schools will be expected to use school UIC number, as a prefix followed by the admission number instead of the birth certificate number for those without certificate numbers,” explains the PS.
The UIC is a unique, four digit, code used by schools to log onto NEMIS. For example, a student whose admission number is 234 and is from a school with a UIC of WE4T will be assigned WE4T234 as the registration credential.
This latest development comes as the Ministry rolls out a spirited search for the about 150,000 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, KCPE, candidates who sat for their exams last year and are yet to report to school. Admission of learners through NEMIS has already posed challenges as in some cases learners’ birth certificate numbers are indicated to have been registered to different people. While, some schools have reported that their learners are shown to have ‘reported’ to other schools. Worse still, the NEMIS portal experiences unprecedented down times rendering the registration process stressful and time consuming.
The Ministry has given schools up to the 8th of February, 2019 to capture all learners whose details may be missing on NEMIS. “This (registration of learners not on NEMIS) should be done immediately and not later than 8th February, 2019. All continuing students who had been issued with temporary UPI numbers can be captured using the (Add learner) module,” adds Dr Kipsang.
The Education Ministry uses details captured on NEMIS to disburse the fees subsidy from the government to all public schools. The system is also used to provide medical insurance to learners through the National Hospital Insurance Fund, NHIF. Schools which did not provide their bank details and learner details missed out on the Ministry’s disbursement of the first tranche of the fees capitation, in January this year.
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