There is a growing trend of dissemination of fake news and misinformation targeting Kenya’s Ministry of Education and its stakeholders – and it appears the problem is getting worse.
Ministry Fights Back Social Media Misinformation
On December 23, 2024 the ministry had to counter a fake news article that had circulated widely informing the public that the direct university entry grade had been raised to B-.
The article that was from a website purporting to carry education news was easy to believe. It is not clear if the website was the original creator of the disinformation piece.
However, the ministry used a screenshot from the said Education Board website to deny the fake news on its X account.
On a different occasion, the Teachers Service Commission came out to clarify that there was disinformation circulating widely about the commission’s role in automated SACCO deductions from teachers’ salaries.
According to the well-crafted piece disseminated in WhatsApp groups, “TSC had announced that by February 2025, it would end sacco deductions from teachers’ salaries. “ The piece added that “teachers will now have to manage sacco payments on their own.”
TSC denied that the information had come from the commission and it was also false.
Before that, the commission on December 27, 2024 had also highlighted another false circular that alleged that P1 teachers were being deployed to teach in junior secondary schools.
These are but few of the instances when the commission has had to combat disinformation meant to dupe the public.
A lot more misinformation or disinformation goes uncountered in social media groups on WhatsApp and Facebook.
Some of these groups, like the Teachers Arena have over 200,000 members with interests in education sectors, including teachers, parents and general public. The administrators of such groups do not usually have the chance to verify the information posted.
In some instances, it was observed that misinformation addressing issues such as changed school closing or reopening dates, teacher employment and redeployment, impromptu government holidays, causes a lot of confusion.
The ministry mostly uses its X handles to respond to the few instances of misinformation and disinformation it comes across. This is not usually effective and comes late.
Also the ministry and its affiliated departments rarely have updated media centres on their websites.
It should be noted that the majority of the targeted audience get their information on WhatsApp and Facebook, hence do not have the chance to verify the sources.
