[kictanet] Bitange for President? Education

[Solomon Mbũrũ Kamau]

Dakitari,
As a player in the education sector, specifically the adult and
continuing education sub-sector, I would like to know how you'll make
it more relevant to meet the emerging issues.
Generally, adult education until recently, was a bouncing ball from
one ministry to the other - Culture & Social Services, Labour and
Human Resource Develpment, Gender and Children Services etc - that it
lost relevance. The rrason as to why adult education fizzled in Kenya
in the 1980s was primarily political. Illiterate politicians found
themselvees to political offices demotivating the moral of the few
adult learners. Today, the sub-sector is placed in the right ministry,
MoE and a full Directorate put in place.

As a member of a Technical Working Group reviewing the End Decade
Assessment of Education For All EFA EDA) there is one thing I can
point out, is lack of integratd system of data collection at the field
and linking it with the Hea Office. There is a kind of 'closed' access
to data that the officer hold, because there is a fear incrimination
could be in the offing. ICT is not even part of the system. Adult
education officers in the field have little or no basic computer
application. How would you make it possible for this to be realized
because we are soon going to discard pens and chalks for computers?

I'm also dismayed to note that the Education Review Task Force on the
theme of ICT, just copy pasted the findings, from some document done
in 2009. Becauase it keeeps on pointing that Financial year 09/10
where the government earmaked to provide about 213 school with
computers, yet the Task Force was constituted in 2011.
Anyway, how will your 'government', using the NOFBI ( or any such
platform), make ICT get into the remotest part of Kenya? (This week
I'll be in West Pokot for a week-long adult learners week and I'm sure
computers are not a priority even at the primary school)
The Adult education curriculum (known as Adult Basic Education &
Training, ABET 1,2 and 3) doesn't even point at ICT, in details.

Thanks

Regards,

Solomon