Kenya Rolls Out Coding In Schools

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday presided over the countrywide roll-out of the coding curriculum in primary and secondary schools.

Speaking during the occasion at State House, Nairobi, President Kenyatta commended the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development for approving and implementing coding as a critical skill within the new Competency Based Curriculum.

“…Today, Kenya becomes the first country in Africa to approve coding as a subject of study within the official curricula for primary and secondary schools. I applaud the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) for leading our nation to this landmark achievement, by implementing coding as a critical skill within our new Competency Based Curriculum,” President Kenyatta said.

Meanwhile, in March 2022, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in South Africa announced that it would add robotics and coding to its curriculum albeit through trial. The two subjects will be piloted from 2022 to 2023 for grades 4 to 9, and their full scale in these grades will be seen between 2024 and 2025.

At the same time, the President inaugurated the Kenya National Digital Master Plan which runs from 2022 to 2032 as well as the National Cyber Security Strategy 2022 which provides strategic interventions in addressing national cyber security challenges and threats.

The President expressed optimism that the national digital master plan will cement the country’s leadership in ICT by creating an enabling policy, legal and regulatory environment for the greater adoption of e-governance as well as fostering the setup and growth of ICT-related businesses.

“This, no doubt, will enhance employment creation, enable and scale up ICT innovation and the development of a dynamic and robust ICT sector that will enhance the growth of all sectors of our economy. The master plan also guides investors while planning their investment priorities,” President Kenyatta said.

The President pointed out that the government is keen on leveraging the ICT initiatives to achieve its national and global commitments, applauding the digital master plan’s target of establishing over 20,000 village digital hubs across the country for citizen digital training.

He added that the village digital hubs will enable the government to employ an additional 40,000 youth directly to man the centres and provide training to every citizen interested in enhancing their skills and competencies.

As he winds up his term in office, President Kenyatta expressed satisfaction that his administration has made great strides in digitisation and embedding ICT across every aspect of public life.

He cited the revolution in the delivery of government services through the globally acclaimed Huduma Centres as one of the achievements of the country’s digitisation programme.

In the education sector, President Kenyatta said the Digital Literacy Programme has been a key cog of the transformation of the education system.