Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The Ministry of Education yesterday admitted that it erroneously over-disbursed Sh1.3 billion to schools in July and September 2019 due to National Education Management Information System (Nemis) challenges.

Basic Education PS Julias Jwan (left) told the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee that they used estimation of student numbers instead of actual figures to determine how much each school would get.

Jwan, who appeared before the committee to respond to queries relating to the 2019/2020 financial year, said the over-disbursement of the funds was because they were using Nemis for the first time.

The Sh1.3 billion overpayment is part of the subsidies balance amounting to Sh1.8 billion that Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has flagged in her report as part of overpayment of aids to 2,610 public secondary schools which arose from erroneous computations of July and September, 2019 disbursements, inflation of enrollment numbers in January 2020 and double payments to some schools.