The Kenya government has revealed that it will now borrow the Brazilian model to establish computer labs in schools instead of its initial plan to buy a laptop computer for each school-going child.
The communication was announced by the Education Cabinet Secretary Prof Jacob Kaimenyi last week who said the ministry has studied the Brazilian computer project for schools which it implemented with the support of UNESCO and found that the same model which has been implemented in India, Indonesia, and Nigeria can replicated in Kenya.
Brazil’s Education Ministry established computer lab in all schools and signed a deal with TV Escola, a Brazilian School TV Programme, to explore the media convergence in broadening the interactivity of TV content used in formal and distance education.
Ministry officials late last year visited Brazil to familiarize themselves with the UNESCO-backed computer lab project for schools and assess how it can be rolled out in the country.
“We had to behave like a river for when it is blocked it has to find another route,” said Kaimenyi in relation to government’s move to opt for computer labs instead of lap tops in the face of the court case.
The government’s plan by the Jubilee government was set to deliver 1.3m laptops to school children and would cost more than $600m (53bn Kenyan shilling). Implementation will begin this year.
The project falls under the first key pillar of the Jubilee Manifesto, Unity (Umoja), where the government promised to raise education standards.
Via CIO
