[kictanet] President Kenyatta secures Microsoft support for computers

Thu Jun 6 09:45:37 EAT 2013

Hi all,

I suppirt, PS Ndemo that we discuss the issues not sideshows.

Books - it will make no sense, to spend all this money on laptops, then
have to buy text books. Let the Ministry/KIE develop standards for eBooks
or eLearning in general to be used from Std 1 to 8. Ideally, with a similar
curriculum, there us no reason why we shouldn't have standardized testing,
like SAT/TOEFL for every term nationwide. So that ares lagging behind can
be detected early and corrective measures taken.

Replacement - What happens when the kid loses their laptop? What is the
replacement mechanism? Who eill supply replacements, at whose cost? Should
we give new ones to each new class or instead have each class pass down
their laptops to the next?

Regards

JG

On Thursday, June 6, 2013, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Ikua,
>
> I feel you and I am tempted to support your sentiments.  But I think this
issue runs deeper than whether we should use Proprietary (Microsoft) or
Open source software for our pupils in standard 1.  My take is we are in a
situation where we may  NOT have defined the learning objectives, the
curriculum, the teaching/delivery/assessments  etc.  I wish I am wrong but
I think we have NO EDUCATIONAL SPECIFICATION of what we want this kids to
come out with after blowing 60Billiion Ksh on laptops.
>
> In the absence of this specification, you will get all types of vendors
surrounding you and selling you all types of hardware, curricula, software,
etc.  And then the choice of whom you work with, will very much depend on
which vendor can pull the heaviest punch - financially speaking.
>
> But all is not lost, we just need to define educational specification and
then panel-beat all the vendors to do what we want, not what THEY want. And
maybe that specification exists but is a cabinet secret - and so we shall
continue fire-fighting in darkness.
>
> walu.
>
> ________________________________
> From: Evans Ikua <ikua.evans at gmail.com>
> To: jwalu at yahoo.com
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>; "
isoc at orion.my.co.ke" <isoc at orion.my.co.ke>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 4, 2013 8:54 PM
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] President Kenyatta secures Microsoft support for
computers
>
> Dear Dr Ndemo,
> Now that you have outlined what MS will do, maybe you can share with us
what is in it for them? I am sure they did not fly in their Global
President for nothing. I suspect that they stand to gain immensely from
this "partnership". The partners referred to must be their local
distributors, or other Government agencies. They will win big and we will
lose big time.
>
> It would be good to know how much the laptops will cost, and how much of
that cost will go to software, or to MS for that matter. If they are
offering a free OS, or a subsidised one for that matter, just remember the
analogy of dope - the first dose is always free, its the subsequent one
that you pay for!
>
> Dont even think about the fact that if we give proprietary solutions to
our kids, we will be losing the opportunity to give them better options
that are available in open source. But most sadly, we have just mortgaged
our freedom and that of the future generations.
>
> Ikua
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 8:18 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:
>
> Barrack,
> As I promised, Prof. Godia accepted to respond to your questions on
> Kicktanet.  You will need to fix e-mail, godiaes at yahoo.com into the
> mailing list to make it easier to reply.
>
> I attended the State House function and Microsoft agreed to do the
following:
>
> 1.      Work with different partners to Train ALL Primary School Teachers
> computers (more than 260,000) to enable them implement computer to schools
> programme by January.  They are ready to start as soon as the Government
> of Kenya gives the go-ahead to start the programme at County level;
> 2.      Work with different partners to develop and train at least five
> enterprises in each County to provide technical support in Hardware,
> Connectivity and Software to all schools within each County; and
> 3.      Develop a research and innovation hub at Konza Technology Park to
> support software developers in the region.
> 4. Work with other Hardware manufacturers to develop a sustainable model
> that includes local assembly of computers as well as local software and
> content development that can be replicated in other African countries
>
> This will go a long way in realzing our President's commitment to
> achieving his promises to the Kenyan people.
>
> Regards
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
>
>
>> Walu,
>>
>> I think its time we focused on other issues, seems this project is a
>> foregone conclusion. We will take stock in 2017.
>>
>> Best Regards
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 2:59 PM, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Whao!
>>>
>>> When I grow up, I want to work for M$oft :-)
>>>
>>> Sounds like they are concluding the deal to be on 1million laptops next
>>> year - as we are busy tweeting on what Software is relevant for pupils
>>> in
>>> Standard one. Read on
>>> @
>>>
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Uhuru-secures-Microsoft-support-for-computers/-/1056/1871904/-/7i517tz/-/index.html
>>>
>>> walu.
>>>
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