[kictanet] 6, 000 primary schools picked for free laptop project

Thu May 30 14:27:33 EAT 2013

From: Adam Nelson <adam at varud.com> wrote
>>But anyway, with a fixed bag of money and a mandate to get these 
computers out and not every school having electricity, that's the only 
logical choice.

@Adam, 

you missed the point - that I believe Prof. Kaimenyi is too clever to have missed - which is that; - the fixed bag of money is "public" TAX payers money and not private equity. Public money MUST be spent equitably or at least be seen to have been spent equitably.  

The current laptop criterion as reported in the press entrenches the principle of  "those who have resources will infact get more resources, while those who lack resources will infact be marginalized even further". This is fundamentally discriminatory (that is why I thought Mutoro will be excited :-) and is indeed the main reason why we re-wrote our constitution in favour of  devolved governments. 

A better selection approach given limited funding would have been to say that with the 22Billions shillings for laptops, I will share out this bugdet equally amongst the 47 counties. Those counties with better infrastructure (electricity etc) can then provide the laptops to to more primary schools within their counties, while those with limited infrastructure can chose to equip the few facility-ready primary schools and then use the balance of monies to mature the infrastructure (put in electricity). Bottom line, no region in Kenya feels short-changed.

But as Yawe argues in his post, the electricity thing might just be diversionary since the same budget makes provision for the solar-driven systems. I know folks on this list who are part of this laptop project and I wish they could share the details because after all, Prof. Kaimenyi may have just been misquoted and we are here ventilating on imaginery government positions.  

But then again, government is "Siri-kali" and folks may not be authorised to talk...

walu.

________________________________
 From: Adam Nelson <adam at varud.com>
To: Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> 
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2013 12:09 PM
Subject: Re: [kictanet] 6,000 primary schools picked for free laptop project

While it sucks for the students without electricity, I'm not sure if I would make a different choice.

If I were in charge, I would just take the money and invest in teachers and increasing the number of grades for which free schooling is available.  Well educated people existed before computers and this focus on what I would call vocational training (i.e. how to use a computer) is shortsighted.  

But anyway, with a fixed bag of money and a mandate to get these computers out and not every school having electricity, that's the only logical choice.  The purpose of the computers is to raise the educational attainment of the country's young people as a whole and those with electricity access will be cheaper to educate using computers than those without computers.

IMHO, the problem is the whole laptop endeavour, not the implementation.

---
OpenStack for Africa: http://signup.kili.io
Musings: https://twitter.com/varud
About Adam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson

On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 11:45 AM, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:

Listers,
>
>
>This project seems to have just kicked off on the wrong tangent...was wondering how they would select WHICH primary schools would get the laptops and was shocked to read:
>
>
>
>>>
>
>
>
>He (Kaimenyi, Cabinet Sec. for Education)  said the availability of electricity and nearness to the main grid was the basis used in deciding the schools selection criteria.
>In every three schools with electricity connection, the ministry has 
selected one school close to the mains grid and another one that is far 
away from the grid....
>
>
>>> adopted from http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000084770&story_title=6-000-primary-schools-picked-for-free-laptop-project&pageNo=2
>
>
>Never mind that I thought these laptops would "solar-powered".  But now it looks like if you are lucky to live near an electricity pole, your luck doubles as you get a bonus benefit  of a laptop. If you happen to leave very far from one (think Pokot, Turkana, Tana River, Wajir, etc) your tough luck just got tougher.  I cant think of a better way of "extending" rather than "bridging" the digital divide..
>
>
>
>walu.
>nb: Mutoro:-sounds like you guys are going to have a very busy year in courts :-)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>kictanet mailing list
>kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
>Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/adam%40varud.com
>
>The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
>KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20130530/63b166f7/attachment.htm>