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Questions about cheating are raised over the abnormal growth curve in exam results. 173,000 high school students have been admitted to universities at C+ level and above in 2022 compared to 145 in 2021 in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations. This implies that 6,300 students exceed the 167,046 places available in public and private universities in 2021.

To avoid leakage of funds, the University of Nairobi has introduced a comprehensive lecturers’ management system that will ensure that only active students will sit for examinations and have their marks recorded. More than 30,000 inactive students who had overstayed the period required to complete a programme degree have been deregistered.

A recent report from Public Accounts Committee reveals the theft of billions of taxpayers' money pocketed by corrupt officials and school heads. The Mundeku Secondary School is one of the 4 ghost schools in the Ministry records with 1,188 students used by an official to steal Sh27,329,598.95 from public funds. The report found another officer inflating enrolment data for 185 schools, resulting in the overpayment of Sh269, 254,288. The cases have been submitted to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for investigation.

According to a confidential report, Kenya’s universities are facing serious management challenges resulting in admission flaws, inadequate staffing, and low standards of examination administration, supervision and research. The report also shows that some institutions cut corners to increase admissions in order to seal budgetary gaps, allow students to graduate within months, or admit students to unaccredited programmes from which they are then allowed to graduate. After returning their reports with factual corrections done, the institutions in question will have 30 days to issue corrective roadmap.

The door was slammed shut on politicians rushing to acquire quick degrees before next year’s General Election. A directive by the Kenyan President on Thursday said university students must meet the minimum admission requirements and lecturer times. The Education ministry was ordered to fully implement the directives. “Universities that do not heed these requirements should be dealt with according to the law,” said the President.

Universities involved in corruption will be stripped of their charters, the Education Cabinet Secretary has said. The minister warned that universities that admit and allow unqualified students to graduate will also lose their charters. He also said universities that grant politicians certificates that they are not qualified for ahead of next year’s elections will be not be spared. He spoke during the first graduation of the Cooperative University of Kenya on Friday.

The Education ministry is investigating a number of schools for allegedly inflating enrolment figures in a bid to unduly benefit from free learning cash. The Cabinet Secretary warned that appropriate action would be taken against individuals involved in the scandal, saying such a practice is a criminal offence punishable by law. The Auditor-General’s report on the Ministry of Education’s financial statements for the 2013/2014 financial year says the government had lost millions of shillings of capitation funds in public schools through inflated enrolment figures.

The President has ordered an audit of how public primary and secondary schools have spent the billions in free learning cash released to them across three years. Free Primary Education funds were first rolled out in 2003, with each child getting Sh1,020 per year. In 2014, the Jubilee government increased FPE to Sh1,420 to cater for an estimated enrolment of about 10 million children in about 23,000 public primary schools. Annually this costs Sh14 billion.

The Kenyan Minister of Education has asked all education stakeholders to report any forms of malpractice in the ongoing "Form One" replacement exercise. The Minister stated that all admission letters are released to students free of charge and therefore parents/guardians should not be duped into parting with presents, tokens and appreciation or inducements to receive these letters.

The principals allege that the number of slots they are being asked to reserve during the Form One selection, are enormous and suspect sinister motives on the part of the Ministry of Education. The ministry's officers have stated that this policy was adopted in order to cater for returning diplomats' children and other special and deserving cases.