Numbers are no longer an issue taking
into consideration the current momentum of e-leaders in our
amidst:
Early Childhood Development (ECD)
Centers - 29,500
Primary Schools - 19,890
Secondary Schools - 4,125
Tertiary - 3,200
ICT as an
means....
The challenge is to increased access to
Secondary Education which currently stand at 60% transition (i.e.
percentage of class eight graduates to Secondary education). Big
question then is, Does ICT provide answers to such an issue? Yes....
Thus need for prioritization of ICTs targeting Secondary Schools and
Community Learning Centers to allow youth out of formal schooling to
access Secondary Education.
Research also indicates that PC
presence in schools, especially in Primary, have some influence on
grade performance (sciences and mathematics). Primary schools with
ICT infrastructure can benefit from huge knowledge-base and variety
of digital content (largely Universal) available.
For digital villages and e-schools to
succeed, the following have to be prioritized:
- Content: appropriate content which
supplements or complement current curriculum. Thanks to Mr. Sammy
Kirui (Telkom) for identifying this need in ICT for Development
Expo speech. This is the number one case: Without appropriate
content, ICT becomes a luxury and hence no school management
committees can justify ICT in education investment. Will there be
some significant change in school performance after investment?
Can school retention of students (against dropouts or transfers)
be sustained? Will the syllabi be better delivered than is the
case now?
- Capacity building: yes digital content
can be in place and infrastructure and all software we need to
have envisaged e-institutions. Without training to manage the
resources and utilized them, the investment will be run down
within no time. Challenges of security (antivirus: experience we
are observing in the NEPAD e-Schools), malfunctioning of hardware
(physiological differences of our landscape - dust, heat, wind/
power access and physical security) and social threats of Internet
introduced in our schools. Definitely, training is key. follow-up
training is critical as well.
- ICT Integration: This is an activity
that involves integration of ICT in each subject area, making ICT
a media for instruction, tool for delivery and channel for
information access. e.g. if you're a biology teacher, we expect
you to take students to a computer lab twice a week to teach some
topics which require animation for better comprehension. If one
teaches Kiswahili, we expect some lesson in "Ngeli na sentensi..."
to be done in the lab... using Swahili version of software... This
is what will demystify ICT from being a preserve for tech teachers
to being a tool for every teacher every student rather than for
computer students.
- ICT Infrastructure access: the
Numbers, yes, 30,000 Schools as indicated would require some
resources. For an e-school to be effective, assuming two students
will share a PC in our schools, a 45 Student stream class would
use 25 PCs per lab. If the school is three streams, then you
require a minimum of two labs. To have sharing of materials and
resources done effectively and efficiently, a LAN is definitely
required.
- National and Regional ICT Support
Centers: to act as institutions where issues are resolved as they
arise in our e-institutions. Could it be content? Repair? Training
follow-up? Replacement etc. Support centre should provide some
helpdesk services.
Connectivity comes to add value to all
interventions, especially when an e-institutions realize they have
content that require others to access or they would require access
to shared resources in some portal. In some cases, Internet might be
supplementary to the above key points. Yes, we know Internet is a
resource where the learner and info-seekers would benefit. It still
lies with having content (appropriate content and security),
capacity building (on sites, portals) and Sustainable connectivity
options. Thanks to Kai and others who're sounding an alarm for
provision of this treasured resource to our esteem education
institutions (for Free!). With launch of various
products by service providers in the recent past, it is
expected that connectivity will be available in most parts of our
country / continent! (CEO Safaricom and CEO Celtel -> ICT for Dev
Expo quotes). I will be more observant to see demos of these
products in a few e-institutions.
Thanks to PS InfoCom and all of you
working to make eMado (Madaraka) PC a reality. I hope we have
other players thinking on content (especially for
e-education/e-learning) for various target groups; that will indeed
make the eMado attractive.
Kind regards,
B. K. Sang
ICT Department
Ministry of Education
P O Box 30040-00100
Nairobi
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Wednesday, February 07, 2007 5:51 PM
Subject:
Re: [kictanet] adopt a school
Whoaa... 30,000 Kenya
schools?
Gakuru
Kai Wulff <kai.wulff@kdn.co.ke> wrote:
Hello,
we are willing to ADOPT the
connectivity to all the schools for free!
Kai
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Wednesday, February 07, 2007 15:09
Subject:
[kictanet] adopt a school
Adopting Schools
It all started with "Adopt a light", an ambitious city
lighting project. Now, Manu Chandaria, industrialist cum
philanthropist wants to apply the same concept in
ICTs.
Speaking at the ICT for Development Expo opening
ceremony on February 7, Chandaria challenged Kenyans to adopt
schools and make sure they can access computers.
"You can change the face of your village school. Just
go there and donate a computer. You can change the face of
Kenya," Chandaria said.
He also disclosed that he will finance a digital
training centre in Mariakani. The centre will be expected to
act as a base to establish digital villages in coastal area.
One digital village will cost approximately shs 140,000 (USD
2000).
ends
Rebecca
Wanjiku,
journalist,
p.o box 33515,
Nairobi.00600
Kenya.
Tel. 254 720 318
925
blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/
Get your own web
address.
Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business.
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