The Kenyan government has officially suspended the issuance of tablets to its Class One pupils under the digital literacy programme after the Ministry of Education revealed the need for necessary infrastructure for ICT integration first.
The Ministry of Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang stated that laboratories will be built instead of issuing tablets to primary school pupils as part of the school laptop project.
Kipsang, who spoke during a meeting with the National Assembly Education Committee, mentioned that a computer lab would be set up in each of the public primary schools in the country.
There has been a policy change in programme from one child-one laptop to the construction of computer laboratories for ICT integration,” stated Kipsang.
Jubilee’s Digital Programme had intended to provide Class One pupils in the 25,000 public primary schools with a laptop each but was shifted to tablets instead during the roll out of the programme in 2016.
As the Ministry opts for computer labs, the relevance of portable computing devices, especially in the context of modern education, cannot be overlooked. The evolving landscape of educational technology emphasizes the need for students to have personal devices, and the demand for advanced tools like thinnest laptops continues to grow.
The decision to focus on computer labs prompts considerations about the accessibility and practicality of such shared resources compared to the potential benefits of providing pupils with their own laptops for a more personalized and efficient learning experience.
Government reports had however indicated that the project had failed as many of the teachers were not ready for the programme. Last Thursday, Division of Revenue Bill 2019 was tabled in parliament with a bid to allocate extra funds into the project.
According to the proposed document, an additional Sh8.4 million will be given to the project that already has spent an excess of Sh50 billion.
This moves however comes months after Auditor General Edward Ouko had showed that an extra Sh15.2 billion assigned to the project could not be accounted for.