Re: [kictanet] Review, identify gaps and enhance the quality of the Certificate of ICT (CICT) qualification

Well articulated Kamotho. The research arm idea sounds very useful as the Board as currently constituted is slanted towards marketing rather than tackling the complexities of ICT education/Professionalism. The Board should also play a neutral role if it wants to participate in the marketing of ICT examinations, as currently there are myriad providers including the foreign ones who have a field day in the country because of a loophole in the Education Act.

The Boards voluntary/non-commercial participation concept also appears a non-starter. It is hard to achieve things that way. Overall I propose that the Board in future involve all including its "critics" and not just "friends" in its strategy formulation sessions. Surely if someone had taken the trouble to inform me (and probably others) about the Naivasha meet I would even have paid my way there.Criticism is not meant to make anyone to fail, but to do better and to achieve.

The ICT Board's idea of "reviewing, identifying gaps, enhancing the quality etc within KASNEB's CICT exam is very logical at a glance. Unfortunately the approach reveals several ommissions and commisions on the Board's part regarding the way in which it has handled one of its most critical mandates - ICT education,professionalim and capacity building. At the risk of sounding like one to whom money has being poured to finish the ICT Board, I will (un) humbly make the following submissions:

1. Whereas the above partnership could have some merits, the Board must stop loosing sight of the bigger picture. CICT is not the route to establishing quality assurance within the ICT profession. An exhaustive exploration of options including perspectives of other examining bodies must be considered.

2. The Board should engineer an original process on its own. Purporting to audit the syllabus of a sister state corporation adversely projects the attributes of the ICT Board and the entire ICT professional community - A non starter running after KASNEB to offer solutions and do its job.Its typical of a disorganized fellow who deserts his unkempt home only to go and issue cooking orders to a neighbours wife.

3. Its critical that the Board institutes a research arm instead of relying entirely on impromptu contibutions of stakeholders. Sitting in posh offices along Waiyaki way to write recommendations to forward to KASNEB is a doomed overture. One is tempted to conclude that the Board is short of ideology and is at best a bother to other entities whose houses are in order.

4. The Board must stop exploiting Kenyans in the name of pro bono (Voluntary participation). Quality comes at a cost. Whereas most of us wouldn't mind giving some hours to the cause of nation building, its both un African and unscriptural to engage people numerously without any sense of consideration. The ICT Board is not an NGO or ? What about your budget?

Kamotho Njenga

Lecturer, UON and

Chairman, ICT Association of Kenya (ICTAK)

On 9/5/08, Al Kags <alkags@alkags.com> wrote:

The Kenya ICT Board and KASNEB have formed a partnership to review, identify gaps and enhance the quality of the Certificate of ICT (CICT) qualification that is managed by KASNEB and offered by various ICT institutions in Kenya. This collaboration will cover, among other areas:-
Working together towards enhancing quality ICT skills in the country
Marketing CICT to get industry buy in and endorsement at the same level as CPA.
Collaborate in conducting a baseline study/survey to determine the deficiency of ICT skills and type of skills required.
Collaborate to lobby for appropriate legal provisions for the establishment of an Institute for the CICT graduates, recognizing KASNEB as the examining and the certification body for ICT graduates.
Work to gain industry acceptance of CICT certification on same quality rating as CPA.
The Kenya ICT Board wishes to convene an ICT Public Panel to develop industry and stake holder input into the review. We invite the participation of key sector players in the industry on a voluntary basis, as represented below:-
Industry players (IT products and services suppliers/manufactures including Developer Community, Skunkworks etc) - 5 representatives
Business Process Outsourcing and Call Centres - 2 representatives
Colleges      representatives - 3 representatives
University      representatives - 3 representatives
Student representatives – 5
Related government ministry's representatives - 3
Multinational Corporations - 2

TORs of the Panel.

To review the state of ICT skills in Kenya with a view to identifying gaps and therefore make recommendations for addressing those gaps as seen in a global context. The Public Panel deliberations will be made out of a maximum of three meetings at the Kenya ICT Board Offices on Waiyaki way specifically on: -
Tuesday, September      9, 2008 at 10 am
Tuesday, September      16, 2008 at 10 am
Tuesday, September      23, 2008 at 10 am
The recommendations will be presented to KASNEB for the review of the Certification Curriculum, on September 26, 2008 at a venue to be communicated closer to the date.

This initiative is guided by the Kenya ICT Board's Strategic Objectives, mainly:
To develop and promote competitive ICT Institutions in Kenya
To develop and promote competitive ICT industries in Kenya

TO PARTICIPATE
To participate, kindly contact the Public Panels team on publicpanels@ict.go.ke . Please attach a brief profile of yourself and the sector that you represent. The Board will then formally invite you to participate in the Panel. While the formal invitations will be issued entirely at the discretion of the board, the broad criteria for participation is as follows:-
Demonstrated experience and knowledge in the sub-sector
Expressed willingness to serve pro bono
Demonstrated general understanding of the educational offering in the sector.
We also welcome via email to publicpanels@ict.go.ke written submission on this topic, representations and opinions from the sector towards this important exercise and they will also be collated with the report.
_______________________________________________
kictanet mailing list
kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet

This message was sent to: kamothonjenga@gmail.com
Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kamothonjenga%40gmail.com