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

Thu May 30 15:55:30 EAT 2013

We made our bed on March 4th. Let us now sleep in it!

On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 2:27 PM, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:

> *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 :-)
>
>
>
>
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> 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.
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-- 
Regards

Philip Adar
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