Kenyan schools get Digital Literacy Programme devices

The Digital Literacy Programme (DLP) has this week (4th to 8th April 2016) delivered and installed devices to an initial four (4) primary schools in different parts of Kenya.

The four schools are Sparki Primary School in Mombasa, Hill (Primary) School in Eldoret, Katheka AIC Primary School in Machakos and Ilbissil Boarding Primary School in Kajiado.

The delivery is part of the fulfillment of the Proof of Concept stage that will have 150 public primary schools selected to act as a test bed for the full programme implementation.

The schools which have been supplied with all the necessary devices will act as a learning template for the contractors as they roll out to the remaining 146 when schools reopen in May. Already many lessons have been learnt starting from the e-readiness validation survey in early March 2016.

“We have been able to take in lessons as we have interacted with the schools, communities and the contractors. What is positive about delivering to the four schools is that we will have an opportunity to interact with the schools and note any impediment, rectify it and perfect our efficiency as we look into completing all POC schools and also rolling out to 22,000 schools,” says Robert Mugo, the Acting CEO of the ICT Authority and the Digischool technical committee chair.

During the one month long school holidays the programme will embark on various activities key among them being a robust teacher training.  The programme through the Teacher Service Commission will be training 300 teachers from pilot schools from the week of 18th April 2016 at the specially equipped contractors’ lab centres in Juja, Eldoret and Mombasa. This training is meant to equip the teachers with added skills to be able to fully run the digital programme.

“We will be creating a classroom environment in the labs and each teacher will be equipped with a device. We also plan to harmonise the digital learning curriculum at the training,” says John Temba a Director in the Ministry of Education Science and Technology.

The POC is being implemented through the two contractors which are the consortium of Moi University and JP Couto, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Positivo BGH. Moi University will cover 26 counties, while Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology will cover 21 counties.

The devices to be used in schools were unveiled on 23rd March at the annual Connected Summit 2016 event in Diani by the Cabinet Secretary, Mr Joe Mucheru. The two devices unveiled were the Teacher and Learner digital devices. The learners will get a luminous green tablet while the teachers will receive a blue laptop.

In addition schools will be supplied with a router, server, and projector and for Special Schools they will receive a special learner’s laptop and an embosser.