It is about embracing technology in which a switch to digital television broadcast is coming in soon starting with the capital Nairobi. Then thereafter Kenyan kids in public primary schools will be given free laptops. However, these devices are targeted at pupils entering standard one only.
In the media digitization front, the capital Nairobi is leading the shift which will then be extended to other cities and regions thereafter. While television broadcast shift has become a matter of concern, it is the laptop for pupils that is generating a lot of debates. The laptop devices for Standard One pupils are expected to truly turn the country into an ICT hub.
The laptop devices for school-children will be solar powered because quite a sizeable area of the country is not yet covered by electricity. However, there also spirited efforts by the government to connect the whole country to the national electricity grid. In the same breath, the national electricity distributor is also changing to prepaid consumption while dropping the more traditional post-paid system for electricity consumption.
In embracing ICT, it is only the public schools and the so-called informal schools in the country that are lagging behind. Most private schools in the capital have long embraced ICT and many pupils there as early as standard one can use laptop or desktop computers. It is this technological gap that the government seems determined to bridge.
However, there are opposing forces which either object to the giving of computers to primary-school pupils completely, or those who that think the project is ill-timed. The country is said to still have poor classrooms and poorly equipped ICT teachers. These are some of the reasons opposition is mounting against the laptop project for the Standard One pupils.
It is important to note that the types of laptop computers to be supplied are solar powered. This deliberately so given that the country is still not wholly connected with electricity. Therefore, solar powered devices would be still usable in the rural villages where electricity is not available. As if to facilitate proper electricity connectivity, a project dubbed rural electrification is being rolled out in most of the rural set up that are yet to be connected to the national grid.
It has to be said that while ICT is scant among public primary schools pupils and the teachers, children in privately owned schools are way ahead in technology. Most pupils in private schools know how to use computers or laptops owned by their parents or which are available in school. This gap in ICT literacy is what seems to be pushing the government hard to bridge.
There are however downsides to this project as very few tutors in public primary schools are ICT literate. This is posing the greatest challenge because without human resource, the project could be dead on its arrival. The teacher crisis is also seen in the yarning gap of teacher to student ratio and this is one of the reasons the country has seen almost unending tassel between the government and teachers. This has sometimes culminated in weeks of industrial action, thus paralyzing learning the learning of Kenyan kids in public schools.
In the media digitization front, the capital Nairobi is leading the shift which will then be extended to other cities and regions thereafter. While television broadcast shift has become a matter of concern, it is the laptop for pupils that is generating a lot of debates. The laptop devices for Standard One pupils are expected to truly turn the country into an ICT hub.
The laptop devices for school-children will be solar powered because quite a sizeable area of the country is not yet covered by electricity. However, there also spirited efforts by the government to connect the whole country to the national electricity grid. In the same breath, the national electricity distributor is also changing to prepaid consumption while dropping the more traditional post-paid system for electricity consumption.
In embracing ICT, it is only the public schools and the so-called informal schools in the country that are lagging behind. Most private schools in the capital have long embraced ICT and many pupils there as early as standard one can use laptop or desktop computers. It is this technological gap that the government seems determined to bridge.
However, there are opposing forces which either object to the giving of computers to primary-school pupils completely, or those who that think the project is ill-timed. The country is said to still have poor classrooms and poorly equipped ICT teachers. These are some of the reasons opposition is mounting against the laptop project for the Standard One pupils.
It is important to note that the types of laptop computers to be supplied are solar powered. This deliberately so given that the country is still not wholly connected with electricity. Therefore, solar powered devices would be still usable in the rural villages where electricity is not available. As if to facilitate proper electricity connectivity, a project dubbed rural electrification is being rolled out in most of the rural set up that are yet to be connected to the national grid.
It has to be said that while ICT is scant among public primary schools pupils and the teachers, children in privately owned schools are way ahead in technology. Most pupils in private schools know how to use computers or laptops owned by their parents or which are available in school. This gap in ICT literacy is what seems to be pushing the government hard to bridge.
There are however downsides to this project as very few tutors in public primary schools are ICT literate. This is posing the greatest challenge because without human resource, the project could be dead on its arrival. The teacher crisis is also seen in the yarning gap of teacher to student ratio and this is one of the reasons the country has seen almost unending tassel between the government and teachers. This has sometimes culminated in weeks of industrial action, thus paralyzing learning the learning of Kenyan kids in public schools.
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