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There is a spirited quest for ICT for Kenyan kids. To achieve this, the government is soon rolling out an ambitious project that would see all pupils joining standard one receive laptops. Computer for school-children is one of the digitization plans by the government which include a shift from terrestrial television broadcast transmission to digital broadcast.
There are a lot of other digitization plans underway in the country which includes adoption of digital television broadcast system to take over from the traditional terrestrial television broadcast system. This shift is not only expected to create room for more TV channels, but also create employments for millions of unemployed youths in the country.
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.
Creating a techno-savvy generation looks like a daunting task but the benefits are incredible and this is the source of motivation to the new government that is pushing for the project. Providing laptop computers to school-children was one of the prominent promises made by the new administration. There has always been a desire to create a digital general and this is best captured by government policies and slogans hinged on the same.
Many of those pupils in private schools also come from affluent families and as such, they have access to computers even at home. However, this is not the case with pupils in public and informal schools. Therefore providing solar powered laptops to pupils is seen as a step in the right direction as it would allow uniform ICT literacy among school children. However, this project has its downside.
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.
There are a lot of other digitization plans underway in the country which includes adoption of digital television broadcast system to take over from the traditional terrestrial television broadcast system. This shift is not only expected to create room for more TV channels, but also create employments for millions of unemployed youths in the country.
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.
Creating a techno-savvy generation looks like a daunting task but the benefits are incredible and this is the source of motivation to the new government that is pushing for the project. Providing laptop computers to school-children was one of the prominent promises made by the new administration. There has always been a desire to create a digital general and this is best captured by government policies and slogans hinged on the same.
Many of those pupils in private schools also come from affluent families and as such, they have access to computers even at home. However, this is not the case with pupils in public and informal schools. Therefore providing solar powered laptops to pupils is seen as a step in the right direction as it would allow uniform ICT literacy among school children. However, this project has its downside.
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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