By Wanjala Danson
Nairobi- William Ruto, Kenya’s Deputy President, has recently launched and inspected the progress of the Digital Literacy Programme (DLP) at Burendwa Primary School in Kakamega County in Kenya.
The Government of Kenya through the ICT Authority is implementing the Digital Literacy Programme using a multi-agency approach that consists of ministries and state agencies.
Click to vote the best performing public institution in Nigeria. Let your opinion count.
The Programme is being implemented in all the 23,951 public primary schools in Kenya and will deliver over 1.2 million devices [by Dec 2016] thereby setting Kenya on course towards a tech-savvy generation.
Accompanied by the Cabinet Secretary for ICT Mr Joe Mucheru, the Deputy President said, “We have so far trained 80,000 teachers across all primary schools in readiness for this massive programme,” stated Ruto.
“We have also ensured that each school is connected to electricity and so far more than 96% of public primary schools have been connected. This programme will revolutionize the process of learning in this country and put our children to be at par with their global counterparts,” he added.
He said that through the program, Kenya is preparing its children to be ready to face the challenges of the modern world regardless of where they are in this country.
Ruto has joined a long list of Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries in launching the programme.
Since the beginning of the month, Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries have been visiting public primary schools across the counties to oversee the inspection and installation of digital devices under the Digital Literacy Program (DLP). So far, 23 counties have seen the launch of the programme in the last two weeks with the remaining 24 expected to be launched in the next two weeks.
This week, the Digital Literacy Programme will be launched in 18 counties. They are Migori, Narok, Kwale, Nyamira, Uasin Gishu, Samburu, Tana River, Mombasa, Kajiado, Kirinyaga, Nakuru, Trans Nzoia, Baringo, Kisii, Embu, Siaya, Bungoma and Wajir.
A total of 832 devices have been installed in 10 schools within Kakamega County. It is expected that a total of 880 public schools shall benefit from this programme within the county before end of December. An additional 139 special schools within Kakamega County will be beneficiaries of this programme.
An army of young, passionate well trained and skilled ICT officers has been deployed to the counties and sub counties as quality inspectors to oversee installation of devices and offer quality technical support
to the program. They include recent ICT graduates, a majority of whom are alumni or current participants of the Presidential Digital Talent Program [PDTP].
Emphasis is given to ICT literacy, digital content, assessments and learning skills whereby learning will be centered on the student.
In addition to enhancing learning and teaching in schools, the programme has had ripple effects in different areas across the country including access to power connectivity for surrounding communities, increased security as well as schools benefitting from improved infrastructure.
