After two failed attempts to deliver laptops to class one pupils in public schools, Jubilee is hoping to be third time lucky.
While 2013 and 2014 are years the government would love to forget quickly, time is running out to make the popular pledge a reality. Following the restart of tendering in September last year,
expectations are high that
the flagship project
must be accomplished
this time round, even if it means delivering tablets instead of laptops to the 22,000 primary schools.
The project is expected to be an equaliser in education, ensuring a child at a remote village in Turkana has the same experience in learning as a child at the suburban town Karen in Nairobi.
The first two tenders were thwarted by overpricing and a dispute over the capacity of a company awarded the contract.
During the first tender,
the companies interested
failed to match the government’s
Sh12 billion budget, with the lowest bid at Sh32 billion. The state's
budget meant that a laptop computer —
not a tablet —
would have cost Sh9,200. Most firms quoted between Sh23,000 and Sh28,000.
During the second tendering, Olive Telecommunications from India was awarded a Sh24.5 billion tender, but the decision was challenged in court.
It was argued that Olive has no capacity because it is not an original equipment manufacturer, besides adjusting its original quotation of Sh23.1 billion to Sh24.5 billion.
In February, the government announced winners of the tender after
shifting the project from the Education to the ICT ministry.
Two successful bidders won the Sh17 billion tender to deliver 1.2 million tablets to children from June
in a consortium. Moi University is partnering with Portugal's JP Couto, while Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology is in a joint venture with Brazil and Argentine-based Positivo-BGH.
In a pilot programme, Moi University will cover 26 counties, while JKUAT will cover 21 counties to deliver the devices to 150 primary schools countrywide. As
at April 4 to 8, four schools have received the tablets, namely:
Sparki Primary School in Mombasa, Hill (Primary) School in Eldoret, Katheka AIC Primary School in Machakos and Ilbissil Boarding Primary School in Kajiado.
The 12-week Proof of Concept or pilot by contractors tests on their ability to deliver on schedule, adherence to specifications of devices, install and test on both the content and the devices and finally ensure that all will work as planned. The PoC is expected to be completed by the end of May.
In the new tender, the device type changed from laptops to tablets, and the project was renamed from One Child One Laptop programme to the Digital Literacy Programme (DLP).
After overcoming the tendering fiasco, the government has announced that electricity connectivity to schools is complete. It has also said that device storage and infrastructure readiness in schools have all been considered and funds allocated ahead of the rollout in June. It
says each school has been given Sh60,000 to build storage facilities for the tablets set to be delivered in June.
Questions have been raised on the security of the devices in relation to storage facilities, with some schools afraid to store large numbers of these devices.
ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru said the safekeeping of the tablets and their accessories is important.
“While we expect communities and schools to protect this valuable resource, we are also engaging the Interior ministry to extend security to schools when the need arises,” he said.
Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang says public primary schools will receive an additional Sh2.6 billion for infrastructure readiness ahead of the devices delivery. He
said most of the 22,000 primary schools will receive Sh207,000 each for preparations that include making standard desks for the tablets.
“Different schools have different needs. Some will receive a lesser amount for infrastructure readiness, which entails desks among other items,” Kipsang said.
To further demonstrate government readiness, digital content for Standard One learners was launched in December.
The digital content is for mathematics, science, social studies, English and Kiswahili subjects. Others are interactive animations, videos, audios, cartoons, exercises and quizzes that have been used to improve the learning experience.
On teacher readiness to deliver lessons using the tablets, the government has stated that 62,000 teachers have been trained since early 2014.
Kipsang is on record saying the government plans to train 25,000 more teachers on how to use computers.
The training, which is supposed to be comprehensive, started in April.
Education CS Fred Matiang'i announced that teachers will be issued with certificates at the end of the training.
“The Teachers Service Commission will lead the training to increase numbers of already trained teachers,” Matiang'i said.
Besides the 62,000 trained teachers, readiness in the 150 schools undergoing trial has dedicated efforts in the April holidays towards a “robust” teacher training.
The training via Teacher Service Commission targets 300 teachers from pilot schools as from April 18, 2016 at specific equipped contractors' lab centres in Juja, Eldoret and Mombasa. This training is meant to equip the teachers with added skills to be able to fully run the digital programme.
"We will be creating a classroom environment in the labs and each teacher will be equipped with a device. We also plan to harmonise the digital learning curriculum at the training," John Temba an ICT director in the Ministry of Education said.
Uwezo Kenya Country Manager Emmanuel Manyasa thinks the already trained 62, 000 are fairly enough to roll out the programme.
The problem is the timing of the ongoing training for teachers even as the national curriculum review takes place.
Manyasa argues that training teachers on new delivery methods of teaching using laptops based on the old curriculum is illogical and at the worst demonstrates lack of planning.
Manyasa said: “It is wasteful to train teachers using old content. Teacher training on ICT and curriculum review should be done concurrently.”
Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development CEO Julius Jwan said ICT teacher training does not matter whether it is based on existing curriculum.
“Curriculum review is yet to conclude...it is good to remember that a lot of ICT issues are generic. They remain the same regardless of the type of curriculum safe for a few modifications here and there,” Jwan said.
Twaweza East Africa's director of Data and Voice John Mugo said teacher attitude while using the laptops to deliver lessons will matter.
“These are new devices, teachers attitude towards ICT is key to success rather than the knowledge and skills they acquire,” Mugo said.