Cisco Networking Academy Advances Digital Skills in Kenya

At a virtual ceremony, the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs of the Republic of Kenya and Cisco celebrated the graduation of 650 students and civil servants who completed various Cisco Networking Academy courses over the last few months. The 650 fresh graduates join a large group of Kenyan students and professionals who have gained state-of-the-art digital and IT skills with the help of Networking Academy over the past years. Since the start of the program, more than 65,000 people attended Cisco Networking Academy courses in Kenya.

Thanks to the close cooperation between the Ministry of ICT and technology company Cisco, content and courses of Networking Academy have been made available on the Ministry’s Ajira Digital Programme free of charge. Approximately 7,000 people took part in the self-enroll courses and benefitted from the program.

In addition to providing digital content, Cisco also offered scholarships to 50 students and in collaboration with the ICT Authority trained 600 civil servants from various Ministries and Government organisations.

“The ICT Policy 2020 is a key pillar in realising Kenya’s Vision 2030 of becoming a globally competitive, knowledge-based economy. To do this, the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs has a mission of facilitating universal access to ICT infrastructure and services to all, in Kenya. Therefore, we welcome the close cooperation with Cisco and Cisco Networking Academy to foster digital skills in Kenya,” said Jerome Ochieng, Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs.

The civil servants and students in this cohort took part in multiple courses, including Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cyber operations and DevNet Associate. CCNA courses provide fundamental knowledge and skills for designing and building computer networks, whilst Cyber Operations focuses on cyber security concepts, monitoring, host-based analysis, network intrusion analysis, and security policies and procedures. DevNet Associate is a brand-new offering from Cisco Networking Academy and introduces students to the world of software development, APIs (application programming interfaces) and infrastructure automation.

“Cisco Networking Academy is our global platform that provides education in IT and digital skills. We partner with learning institutions and Government agencies around the globe, to empower people with tech-savvy career opportunities,” said Sally Kimeu, country manager for Cisco in Kenya. “The story of our Networking Academy started more than 20 years ago. Over the years, this learning platform has become the world’s largest classroom with more than 12.6 million participants since its inception. Given the need for digital skills in Africa, Cisco Networking Academy is a key pillar of our commitment to the continent,” Sally Kimeu added.

To help during the global pandemic, Cisco brought its collective resources, technologies, and experience to deliver Networking Academy courses and to enable continuous connections and collaboration with education partners. Dimension Data, a Cisco Gold Partner in Kenya, has supported the training of civil servants by providing the trainers whilst Cisco enabled remote teaching via WebEx.

“Ensuring our educators were able to connect with their students so they could continue their studies at home without disruption was our number one priority. Through Cisco’s collaboration technologies we can provide our education partners the right technology to set up study spaces and host lectures using Networking Academy courses from anywhere”, said Hital Muraj, in charge of Cisco Networking Academy program in Kenya.