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By:
Graham Kajilwa | |||||||||
| Posted:
Aug,05-2016 12:57:21
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The cargo that arrived at 5am from China contained 5,000 devices with 20,000 devices expected to be in the country by the end of the month through KQ cargo.
However, from September the numbers will be stepped up to accelerate the belated Digital Literacy Programme (DLP) with a cargo of 30,000 devices at least on a weekly basis.
Information Communication Technology Principal Secretary Victor Kyalo said the government's target is that by December pupils from each of the 22,000 public primary schools should have the device.
"We are talking about 1.2 million devices for both teachers and pupils. Arrival of this first batch of 5000 is a step towards realization of state's agenda of providing laptops to all primary school children," said Kyalo.
Kyalo, who heads the innovation docket in the ICT ministry, was accompanied by his broadcast colleague Sammy Itemere, Industrialization PS Julius Korir and Education PS Dr Belio Kipsang.
Officials of the ICT Authority (who are the implementing agent of the programme) were also present to witness the event.
The devices will be installed in selected phase one schools. The ICT Authority expects to distribute 600 000 devices to 11 000 schools during the first phase and the same number during the second phase as well as another 600 000 devices will be delivered in the remaining primary schools."It is part of our dream to ensure learning is not only made exciting by improving the curriculum but also changing the learning environment," said education PS Kipsang.
This will bring the total number of devices to over 1.2 million and cover all 23,951 primary schools by March, 2017 according to the plan outline by the authority.
"But our target is to have all of our schools children with laptops by December," said Kyalo. Apart from the typhoon in China that dragged the process of flying the devices, one of the major challenges of the project was the school electrification programme. However, a recent statement from State House showed that the government has spent Sh32 billion to electrify 23,000 schools which were connected either to the national grid or solar power providing a good platform of the laptop programme. The rollout of this first phase of distribution expected to start next week follows a successful pilot phase, where 12 000 devices were installed in 150 schools countrywide (three schools in every county and nine special education schools). The pilot--referred to as Proof of Concept--was used to gauge the capacity of contractors to undertake the project. The contractors comprise of two consortia, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)/Positivo BGH and Moi University/JP Courto.Their Sh19 billion contracts were signed in early July after successful implementation of the pilot phase. But we are working with the JKUAT and Moi Universities to create local manufacturing and assembly plants so that we do not have to outsource and at the same time build up local industries," said Industrialization PS Korir. | |||||||||
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