[kictanet] My take:One subject, varying quality - We lack anaccreditation system for ICT courses

Victor Gathara v-gathara at dfid.gov.uk
Mon Jul 6 10:39:29 EAT 2009


Evans
 
Your comment "In some developed countries like Germany and UK, the
policies are there and they clearly state that (in Government) you can
only buy proprietary software only if you cannot get a OSS option to do
what you need to do" is a misrepresentation of UK government policy on
OSS. 
 
The Government's policy is as follows: 

	Open Source Software 
1.	The Government will actively and fairly consider open source
solutions alongside proprietary ones in making procurement decisions, 
2.	Procurement decisions will be made on the basis on the best
value for money solution to the business requirement, taking account of
total lifetime cost of ownership of the solution, including exit and
transition costs, after ensuring that solutions fulfil minimum and
essential capability, security, scalability, transferability, support
and manageability requirements. 
3.	The Government will expect those putting forward IT solutions to
develop where necessary a suitable mix of open source and proprietary
products to ensure that the best possible overall solution can be
considered. 
4.	Where there is no significant overall cost difference between
open and non-open source products, open source will be selected on the
basis of its additional inherent flexibility. 

	Non-Open Source Software 
5.	The Government will, wherever possible, avoid becoming locked in
to proprietary software. In particular it will take exit, rebid and
rebuild costs into account in procurement decisions and will require
those proposing proprietary software to specify how exit would be
achieved. 
6.	Where non open source products need to be purchased, Government
will expect licences to be available for all public sector use and for
licences already purchased to be transferable within the public sector
without further cost or limitation. The Government will where
appropriate seek pan-government agreements with software suppliers which
ensure that government is treated as a single entity for the purposes of
volume discounts and transferability of licences. 

	Open Standards 
7.	The Government will use open standards in its procurement
specifications and require solutions to comply with open standards. The
Government will support the development of open standards and
specifications. 

	Re-Use 
8.	The Government will look to secure full rights to bespoke
software code or customisations of commercial off the shelf products it
procures, so as to enable straightforward re-use elsewhere in the public
sector. Where appropriate, general purpose software developed for
government will be released on an open source basis. 
9.	Where the public sector already owns a system, design or
architecture the Government will expect it to be reused and that
commercial arrangements will recognise this. Where new development is
proposed, suppliers will be required to warrant that they have not
developed or produced something comparable, in whole or in part, for the
public sector in the past, or where they have, to show how this is
reflected in reduced costs, risks and timescale. 
10.	When suppliers are proposing a third party product there should
be full price transparency. If there is a pan-Government agreement there
should be the option to source through this where doing so would
maximise overall public sector value. The Government will expect to be
charged only the cost the supplier incurs unless the supplier can
clearly and transparently provide evidence of the additional value
created. 

Victor

 

	On 7/3/09, Evans Ikua <ikua at lpakenya.org> wrote: 

		As far as the policy goes, I beg to disagree with Dr
Ndemo. Its good to have a policy that makes the playing field level.
That is a good start and that is the basic minimum that should be
expected. On the other hand, its very important to understand that for
the sake of the interests of a country, its important to have a policy
that supports what we believe is good for us. If we are all convinced
that OSS is good for us, then there is no-one to stop us from having a
policy that supports OSS very openly. Too bad if some Proprietary
software houses will not like it. But we must learn to protect our
national interests agressively. The many countries in Europe and the
rest of the world have gone this direction and they are enjoying the
benefits of OSS. In some developed countries like Germany and UK, the
policies are there and they clearly state that (in Government) you can
only buy proprietary software only if you cannot get a OSS option to do
what you need to do.
		
		As for the MoE, its very hard to penetrate to them as
some of us have learnt. At the same time, the OSS advocates we have in
this country (us included) have very limited capacities as we do not
receive any funding from anyone. This is one of the handicaps that OSS
advocacy has. We volunteer our resources (time and money) and have to
compete with software companies that are supported by Marketing budgets
that run into the Billion Dollars.
		
		
		-- 
		Evans Ikua
		Linux Professional Association of Kenya
		Tel: +254-20-2250381, Cell: +254-722 955 831
		Eagle House, 2nd Floor
		Kimathi Street, Opp. Corner House
		www.lpakenya.org <http://www.lpakenya.org/> 
		
		
		
		Quoting bitange at jambo.co.ke:
		
		

			Prof. Waema,
			A good policy levels the play ground.  What each
party (Proprietary or
			OSS) does should not concern policy.  That is
why we need the procurement
			rules change to give everybody an equal chance.
			
			
			Ndemo.
			
			
			
			
			
			

				Bwana Sang,
				
				You have a point. We do not have strong
OSS champions, especially in the
				public sector - at least not as powerful
as the evangilists for
				proprietary
				software. This situation is not helped
by a non-committal policy. Let me
				chew over how we can change things.
				
				Mwololo
				
				
				On 6/30/09, Barnabas K. Sang
<bksang at education.go.ke> wrote:
				


				 Tim,
				
				
				
				I agree with you to some extent, that we
all need revision of the
				current
				ICT Policy to accommodate the key issues
Kenya currently is focusing on.
				On
				OSS, I still doubt capacity of "*OSS
Champions*" on the issue having
				observed in the past one year, how an
opportunity to have 210 secondary
				schools each equipped with 25 PCs and
use both proprietary software and
				OSS
				(Funds provided for) progressed.
				
				
				
				To date, no OSS proponents have brought
any concept on how MOE can
				facilitate the adoption and use of OSS.
There are some brilliant OSS
				solutions, particularly supporting
teaching and learning (animated
				content
				-> good for illustrations of difficult
concepts in some subjects) and
				development of content for use by all
education and training
				stakeholders
				(teachers, students, parents and
researchers).
				
				
				
				I would like to acknowledge existence of
sufficient leadership (policy
				and
				managers) to support modernization of
education (ICT integration to
				teaching
				and learning). We may not have all
necessary capacity yet for
				decision-makers to guide the process,
but in partnership with all
				stakeholders, I believe OSS will
definitely find a niche in the whole
				ICT
				integration exercise being spearheaded
by MOE. Perhaps people like
				yourself
				and others in this network, could
enlightened us on how OSS could be
				part of
				ICT integration efforts at an early
stage as possible.
				
				
				
				Kind Regards
				
				
				
				B. K. Sang
				
				
				
				*From:*
				kictanet-bounces+bksang=education.go.ke
<http://education.go.ke/> @lists.kictanet.or.ke
<http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/> [mailto:
				kictanet-bounces+bksang
<kictanet-bounces%2Bbksang>=education.go.ke <http://education.go.ke/> @
				lists.kictanet.or.ke
<http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/> ] *On Behalf Of *Mwololo Tim
				*Sent:* Tuesday, June 30, 2009 8:02 AM
				*To:* Barnabas K. Sang
				*Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
				*Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Fw: RE: One
subject, varying quality - We lack
				an accreditation system for ICT courses
				
				
				
				Listers,
				
				
				
				Our 2006 national ICT policy is silent
on open source software (OSS). As
				we
				think of a review of this policy, which
according to me is due due to a
				number of issues (Vision 2030, BPO, and
many other developments), we
				should
				think seriously about a section on OSS
policy.
				
				
				
				tim mwololo
				
				
				
				On 6/29/09, *Evans Ikua*
<ikua at lpakenya.org> wrote:
				
				There is also Camara Kenya (the local
office of camara.ie <http://camara.ie/> ) that has done
				tremendous work in the area of putting
hardware in schools, both Primary
				and
				Secondary, installing open source
software, supporting them, and
				training
				the teachers. This in a short period of
time.
				
				Their work has mainly been in the coast
region but they are also getting
				into the hinterland. They have about 150
volunteers from Ireland who
				have
				just come in and they will conduct
trainings for about a month.
				
				They have equipped schools in the whole
of Lamu island, and many schools
				at
				the coast.
				
				They are achieving much more by using
FOSS as a computer installed with
				Linux gives much more to a student as
opposed to one installed with
				Windows.
				Because they are not spending a penny on
software licenses, they are
				able to
				supply like twice the number of PCs than
if they were to have the
				schools
				buy licenses.
				
				Ikua
				
				--
				Evans Ikua
				Linux Professional Association of Kenya
				Tel: +254-20-2250381, Cell: +254-722 955
831
				Eagle House, 2nd Floor
				Kimathi Street, Opp. Corner House
				www.lpakenya.org
<http://www.lpakenya.org/> 
				
				
				
				
				Quoting Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>:
				
				forwarded--- On Thu, 6/25/09, Emmanuel
Khisa
				<emmanuel.khisa at kadet.co.ke>
				wrote:
				
				From: Emmanuel Khisa
<emmanuel.khisa at kadet.co.ke>
				Subject: RE: [kictanet] One
subject,varying quality - We lack an
				 accreditation system for  ICT courses
				To: "'Walubengo J'" <jwalu at yahoo.com>
				Date: Thursday, June 25, 2009, 10:11 AM
				
				And Project Discovery Kenya has been
able to train more that 200 primary
				school teachers over the last five years
in conjunction with Institute
				of
				Software technologies...I also know that
similar training went on in
				Yala
				Division last April for Primary school
teachers in the division
				organised
				by
				the Computers for Schools.
				On the subject of lack of adequate
professors, I will leave that to
				Academicians and those keen on
interrogating academics, I however would
				like
				the ICT training to move from over
concentration with the academics and
				more
				to the more handson...more like
incubator based learning
				approach...While
				the Far East economies have good
universities, they still put more
				premium
				on handson skills...It is sad that even
our graduate engineers let alone
				IT
				graduates (who by the way take a lot of
flack) cannot invent or think
				outside the box...I mean no invention
ever comes out of these highly
				restricted courses yet only a select few
universities dare to venture
				into...
				
				The answer in my opinion lies in
building skills that are more practical
				and
				focussed on creating entrepreneural
opportunities.
				
				Rgds,
				
				Manu
				
				"New opinions are always suspected and
usually opposed, without any
				other
				reason but because they are not already
common."
				P Before printing, think about the
Environment and your responsibilities
				-----Original Message-----
				From:
kictanet-bounces+emmanuel.khisa=kadet.co.ke <http://kadet.co.ke/>
@lists.kictanet.or.ke <http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/> 
				[mailto:kictanet-bounces+emmanuel.khisa
<mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bemmanuel.khisa>
<kictanet-bounces%2Bemmanuel.khisa>
				=kadet.co.ke <http://kadet.co.ke/>
@lists.kictanet.or.ke <http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/> ] On
				Behalf Of Walubengo J
				Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2009 8:41 AM
				To: emmanuel.khisa at kadet.co.ke
				Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
				Subject: Re: [kictanet] One
subject,varying quality - We lack an
				accreditation system for ICT courses
				
				
				I agree that something is happening
within the High-School teaching
				fraternity. Last April, Multimedia
University College trained 80 high
				school
				headteachers from Samburu and I think
Transmara Districts, giving them
				basic
				ICT skills...am aware Strathmore
University, IAT etc also do such
				trainings
				regularly...It may not be enough, but
its definitely a good kick in the
				right direction.
				
				As for the University Level IT faculty
staff.  Unfortunately the
				statistics
				are likely to be true.  You can count
the number of IT Professors in
				this
				country on your three fingers ;-)
				
				walu.
				
				
				
				--- On Wed, 6/24/09, Barnabas K. Sang
<bksang at education.go.ke> wrote:
				
				From: Barnabas K. Sang
<bksang at education.go.ke>
				Subject: Re: [kictanet] One subject,
varying quality - We lack an
				
				accreditation system for  ICT courses
				
				To: jwalu at yahoo.com
				Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions"
<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
				Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 11:32 PM
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				Betty,
				
				
				
				Thanks for your response on the article
				mentioned below. Will go
				through it and perhaps respond on key
issues raised, which
				ICT in Education has
				already done or planned. I hope it will
minimize fears all
				of us have or may be
				persuaded to think all is totally
misplaced and lost.
				
				
				
				
				?ICT Integration? is currently Ministry
				of Education focus, and
				steps already put in place are expected
to make Kenya
				improve both teaching and
				learning environment, with better
education ?products?
				across all levels.
				
				
				
				Kind regards
				
				
				
				B. K. Sang
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				From:
				kictanet-bounces+bksang=education.go.ke
<http://education.go.ke/> @lists.kictanet.or.ke
<http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/> 
				[mailto:kictanet-bounces+bksang
<mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bbksang>  <kictanet-bounces%2Bbksang>=
				education.go.ke
<http://education.go.ke/> @lists.kictanet.or.ke
<http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/> ]
				On
				Behalf Of Betty Ogange
				
				Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 4:31 PM
				
				To: Barnabas K. Sang
				
				Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
				
				Subject: Re: [kictanet] One subject,
varying quality
				- We lack an
				accreditation system for ICT courses
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				
				  Hallo David,
				  Last week there was furore in this
forum
				about media
				  misrepresentation of the Kenyan
situation. The article
				that you make
				  reference to in today?s Standard
(24.06.09) may be
				accurate in the areas that
				  you have highlighted. However, I wish
to take issue with
				a few points raised
				  in the article.
				
	
http://www.eastandard.net/education/InsidePage.php?id=1144017693&cid=316
				
				
				   ?Unlike other academic fields, very
				little has been done
				  to train most teachers in ICT skills.
Currently, no
				primary teacher training
				  college offers comprehensive
pre-service training in
				information technology.?
				
				  Anyone with a modest interest in
education in
				Kenya would not
				  miss something as obvious as a subject
in the national
				curriculum when reporting
				  in a national daily. Prior to the year
2004, a few
				colleges had ICT skills
				  courses for pre-service teachers based
on in-house
				curricula that were
				  independently developed by each
college. The Primary
				Teacher Education (PTE)
				  ICT curriculum developed by the Kenya
Institute of
				Education has been in
				  force since the year 2004 and ICT is
taught as a
				compulsory subject in all
				  primary teacher training colleges.  It
is examined
				internally at the end of
				  the first year and all students must
pass in the subject,
				among other
				  subjects, in order to proceed to
second year. There are
				several
				  implementation hitches in this
programme arising from the
				fact that ICT is
				  being taught as a discrete subject in
the curriculum and
				has yet to be
				  mainstreamed in the other subjects in
the PTE curriculum.
				The debate around
				  ICT- pedagogy integration in education
and how to
				operationalise it right
				  from curriculum development to
classroom level
				implementation continues in
				  the education circles.
				
				   ?In-service training is often
				provided by trainers who
				  are just barely literate in
				computers?
				
				  In my knowledge, this has happened
especially
				in instances when
				  some hardware providers ?dangle?
teacher training as
				an additional offer to
				  the institution. TTCs used to hire ICT
technicians to
				teach the course, but
				  in the last 2 years, the Teacher
Service Commission has
				posted trained
				  lecturers of ICT to a number of TTCs.
There have also
				been some highly
				  professional training offered to
college lecturers by
				Microsoft (in
				  conjunction with the Institute of
Advanced Technology -
				IAT) and the Kenya
				  Technical Teachers College. Computers
for Schools Kenya
				and the Nepad
				  e-schools teacher training programmes
have also reached
				teachers in selected
				  secondary schools. Lack of
co-ordination (as with the
				rest of the ICT
				  initiatives in Kenya ), lack of clear
training targets
				and time-lines have
				  compromised continuity and impact of
some of these
				training programmes.
				
				  ?The
				entire ICT education is in tatters?
				  An interesting analogy there. But I
see a
				sector that is struggling
				  with what some scholars in educational
reform have called
				an ?implementation
				  dip? ? that for a number of reasons
things normally
				tend to get worse before
				  they can get better.  There are lots
of difficulties in
				implementing large
				  scale ICT initiatives in the education
sector world over.
				In our country,
				  there have been positive efforts by
the Ministry of
				Education, the KIE and a
				  number of stakeholders in education,
and these do count.
				On the other hand,
				  there has been the tendency (by
education leaders)
				towards elaborate policy
				  documents, ?ICT networks? and trust
funds whose
				mandates remain
				  indeterminate. All these need to be
researched and
				accurately presented.
				
				  Accurate reporting by the media and
objective
				analysis of both
				  the positives and difficulties are
important in helping
				the public target
				  their attention and effort. Besides
the inaccuracies, the
				use of expressions
				  such as ?in tatters? ?the situation is
bad?,
				?alarmed professionals?
				  ?obsolete hardware? to describe ICT in
education in
				Kenya sounds to me fairly
				  sensational.
				
				  Betty
				
				
				
				
				
				  --- On Wed, 6/24/09, David Otwoma
				<otwomad at gmail.com>
				  wrote:
				
				
				  From: David Otwoma <otwomad at gmail.com>
				
				  Subject: [kictanet] One subject,
varying quality - We
				lack an accreditation
				  system for ICT courses
				
				  To: ogange at yahoo.com
				
				  Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions"
				  <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
				
				  Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 9:32
AM
				
				
				  .....universities
				  offer many degrees but their quality
and market demand
				differ......
				
				
				
				
				
				  Although
				  nearly all universities offer degrees,
only the
				University of Nairobi, Jomo
				  Kenyatta University of Agriculture and
Technology and
				Strathmore have
				  Master?s programmes and only UON and
Jkuat teach at
				doctoral level.
				
				
				  There
				  is a diminishing number of staff with
PhDs in ICT
				departments. According to
				  Prof Rodrigues, UoN has the highest
number of full-time
				lecturers with PhDs
				  in ICT that stands at eight of 18,
while Jkuat has three
				of six, which is the
				  same number for Strathmore.
				
				
				  Kenyatta
				  University has nine full-time but none
of them have a PhD
				or an equivalent
				  qualification, while none of the
Kabarak?s eight
				lecturers have a PhD. Two of
				  six of United States International
University has
				doctoral degrees.
				
				
				  Many
				  lecturers have no experience as ICT
professionals as
				engineers, software
				  developers or in the emerging area of
computer and
				network security.
				
				
				
				
				
				  See
				
	
http://www.eastandard.net/education/InsidePage.php?id=1144017693&cid=316
&
				
				  for full story
				
				
				
				
				
				  --
				
				  David Otwoma,
				
				  Chief Science Secretary,
				
				  National Council for Science and
Technology,
				
				  Utalii House 9th Floor,
				
				  Mobile tel: +254 722 141771,
				
				  Office tel: +254 (0)20 2346915,
				
				  P. O. Box 5687 - 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
				
				  email: otwomad at gmail.com &
otwoma at ncst.go.ke
				
				  www.ncst.go.ke
<http://www.ncst.go.ke/> 
				
				
				
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-- 
David Otwoma,
Chief Science Secretary,
National Council for Science and Technology,
Utalii House 9th Floor,
Mobile tel: +254 722 141771,
Office tel: +254 (0)20 2346915,
P. O. Box 29899 - 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
email: otwomad at gmail.com & otwoma at ncst.go.ke
www.ncst.go.ke

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________________________________________________________________________


DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the British Government's fight against world poverty. Find out more about the major global poverty challenges and get the facts on what DFID is doing to fight them: http://www.dfid.gov.uk 
______________________________________________________________________

This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Peapod. The
service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive
anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit:
http://www.peapod.co.uk/cleanmail
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