Hi, The back and forth of meetings, seminars, task forces and unturned rocks is not helping as every day that we continue to participate in talk shops Kenyans are being fleeced by unscrupulous institutions and organisations are suffering from low productivity. However peculiar we might be as Kenyans lets appreciate that we do not always have to recreate the wheel. I again plead with PS Ndemo please unleash the whip and lets get the country moving forward this talk shops will never shutdown they will also be a new task force to be formed to try and test which is the ideal shape for a wheel, it is round. KASNEB can continue with their activities but in the mean time we need to know if the accountant we recruit can actually tell the difference between a value and a label in an electronic spreadsheet, in the same way that I now what he has mastered in accounting by the CPA level we need the same kind of clarity with his/hers IT proficiency. On the posting on how is KASNEB placed on the issue of ICT proficiency training and certification I strongly believe they are adequately placed, if they can test the abilities of an accountant which is a skill that can crush an organisation I see no reason why we should doubt their capability in certifying on ICT. No company ever went burst because the secretary could not do a mail merge. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ________________________________ From: J.R. Kirongothi <kirongothi@kasneb.or.ke> To: robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Mon, 30 August, 2010 10:46:13 Subject: Re: [kictanet] ICDL - I apologise(RESTRICTED ACCESS) Hi all,
Thankyou for allowing me to join your mailing list. I wish to contirbute to the discussion above dated august 6.
Robert raised an issue which is of concern across board i.e., to all other stakeholders including some trainers, which is: The standard of training in IT in Kenya. I recall a meeting with Dr. Ndemo and Mr. Kukubo and others which proposed a taskforce to look into the issue of IT training in Kenya. As Dr. Ndemo puts it, an examining body must exist to ensure the syllabus coverage and skills imparted before any certification. This way, any employer or other stakeholder is assured of quality when engaging a certified graduate. KASNEB mandate has now been expanded to include accreditation of colleges that train for its examinations. Consequently, KASNEB has established a directorate to specifically address issues of accreditation in order to ensure quality training. The mandate of KASNEB is to develop syllabuses, conduct professional and technician examinations and certification of candidates in finance, accountancy, management, information technology among other related disciplines, a task it has handled well since 1969 (as Dr Ndemo cites the preference of CPA over other foreign accountancy examinations).
The taskforce Walu mentions, of which I am also a member, was appointed by KASNEB. This taskforce was never meant to create or replicate a local version of ICDL but to come up with an end user basic skills or minimum computer literacy curriculum that not only addresses local needs but is also globally competitive. The taskforce commenced by addressing and researching on “What constitutes minimum computer literacy in Kenya?” Armed with the findings, the taskforce settled down to work coming up with a content that was presented to the various committees of KASNEB as per the procedure of developing a curriculum. By the way, Walu must have misconceived a challenge in the Board’s perception because the Board of KASNEB has been very supportive of the whole idea including the electronic system approach, and even provided a lot of input at various stages of the development of the curriculum. (Alex, you were a member of the taskforce. You can confirm). In fact, KASNEB is now in the final stages of the development of the curriculum, before releasing the content to a wider circle of stakeholders for their input. It is worthy to note that KASNEB is a service oriented, not for profit State Corporation and charges only administrative costs as fees hence the low cost Walu mentions. This supports Harry’s comment that money is not the issue and the concern of losing traditional income streams does not therefore arise.
KASNEB is open to suggestions and positive critique and welcomes new ideas that are aimed at promoting professionalism in Kenya and beyond.