[kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants

Wed Apr 10 09:16:27 EAT 2013

Hi Walu,

The same issues you are raising were raised a few years ago when the government allowed the use of calculators in class and even much longer people burnt the printing press because they said that with a large illiterate population who will read the books.

It is criminal to try and decide which toys are relevant to the development of your children as there learning is meant to equip them to survive and flourish in the future that neither you nor I have any idea how it will look.  

I spent over 150,000/- on high end gaming workstations for my children instead of buying a 50" LED screen or an iPAD and iPhone for my self, in addition I pay Zuku 5,000/- every month for dedicated internet access to the house instead of paying the same to DSTV for Satellite TV and finally my kids are allowed over 40 years of computer time every week during the school term and even more when they are on holiday.

To many people out there this is a waste of money and I will regret the same over time, but they are all in the top 10 percentile of their class and they spend more time on useful sites than on gaming.

Therefore unlike many naysayers I have the moral right to say that the offer made by the President indicates that he can see beyond many of us and he he understands that he is more a custodian of the path to the future than the architect.

What we in the industry need to spend our finger grease on is giving answers to the questions you have asked as if we also raise questions who do we expect to answer.

Regards

PS.  Just before I forget, they also have kindles, the basic black and white one no Fires for now.

Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

________________________________
 From: Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>
To: robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk 
Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke 
Sent: Wednesday, 10 April 2013, 8:40
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants

@Yawe,

I was on travel (not to SA :-) but caught up with our two new Principals.  Great speeches. But if there's someone already in the new Presidents kitchen cabinet plse pass the following news.  Just drop the laptop business or at least modify it because of the following reasons.

1. Curriculum.
Ok. So the kids have laptops next year. What to do with them? Play games, watch porn? In other words do we have an IT curriculum for these youngsters or we believe they will automatically become Bill Gates once we throw gadgets at them.?

2. IT Teachers.
Assuming we cobble together some curriculum before next year. How soon can we get out primary teachers upto speed on the same? Do we have a ToT program in place. ToT= Training of Trainers for the non-academics.

3. Examinations.
It is known that Kenyans learn ONLY when it is examinable. Indeed teachers make space in their timetables if they know the unit is examinable. Otherwise you can as well do your IT lessons at home as your hobby since the lesson will NOT be scheduled at the expense of say Mathematics which is examinable. So is the KNEC ready with this exam?

4. Security/Theft.
If folks can still IEBC laptops from secure strongrooms, what about laptops hanging either in staffrooms or  on standard 1 pupils?  What about a poor parent who opts to trade in the laptop in favour of cash to use for other purposes? This is not far fetched since even the largely successful Wezesha Laptop initiative were University students got subsidized Laptops and quite a number sold them off at market price.

5. Maintenance\Disposal program.
Usually laptops are rarely maintained. Just dump them after 3-4yrs. So we need to think efficient disposal mechanism for 1million+ gadgets across rural and urban Kenya. Worse still those Kids will now be in standard 4 and so our buget for laptops will double -both for Sdt1s and the Std4s.

But I have a simple solution for our new digital President. Just traget Form1s and perharps forget Laptops and adopt Networked 
PCs. The ecosytem described above is more mature to take on this great idea. Our Primary schools will just drain this initiative with little returns to the taxpayer.

walu.

------------------------------
On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 7:56 AM AST (Arabian) robert yawe wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I like the confirmation by the President - sworn and his deputy on the issue of laptops for class 1 students from next year, it is commendable and quite easily achievable but as ICT experts are laptops the ideal items or would low power touchscreen tablets be more practical and appropriate?  However .com that the two principles are I suspect that they might not be up to speed on devices. 
>
>Here again for the umpteenth time the opportunity for us to become relevant presents itself, shall we take action or sit back to carry out a forensic analysis when only 80% of the students get the devices?
>
>Regards
>
>PS.  A new dispensation, a new dedication and new vigor 
>
>
> 
>Robert Yawe
>KAY System Technologies Ltd
>Phoenix House, 6th Floor
>P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
>Kenya
>
>
>Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
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