Digital-2
The government has allocated Sh10 million to Langalanga Secondary School in Nakuru for construction of a modern computer laboratory to boost digital literacy. Basic Education Principal Secretary Dr Belio Kipsang indicated that one of the key focus areas of Kenya Kwanza administration is to help students and schools across the country improve computer literacy.
“In the technology field, having the right infrastructure entails providing the hardware, and providing computers is a very important part of what needs to be done.” stated Dr Kipsang.
Dr Kipsang pointed out that the fully kitted modern computer lab will not only go a long way in improving computer literacy but also improve their capability to research and to help the students prepare themselves for exams. He urged the students to remain focused, disciplined and work hard together as a team and with their teachers, parents and the school administration to ensure that they continuously lift the performance of the school.
Dr Kipsang who is chairing a team of 11 Principal Secretaries that are holding an engagement with members of the public in the Rift Valley region over the latter’s views on Government’s service delivery plans spoke at Langalanga Secondary School. He said the project will go a long way in helping learning in the school.
“With the availability of improved infrastructure on Information Communication Technology (ICT), we believe a good number of students will develop interest in this subject,” the PS indicated. “We believe that the lab will not only help learning but it will also help the teachers do their research,” he added.
Dr Kipsang said education nowadays emphasizes ICT integration, and so without ICT, they cannot complete their work. He pointed out that the aim of computer laboratories was to make digital literacy accessible for learners from less privileged backgrounds, especially those in schools that were yet to set up infrastructure to enable e-learning.
“The world is going digital and it is expected that children in Nakuru and in other parts of the country are going to compete in the same market for the same opportunities and they are expected to be digitally literate,” he said.
“So, children who do not have the advantage of interacting with technology may be at a disadvantage thus our other objective is to bridge the gap by ensuring we provide digital labs to such children,” Dr Kipsang added. He said that the lab would make it easy for learners to relate with some of the content being offered under the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC).
He also said that the lab would act as a source of encouragement for learners in the school to take computer classes which were less popular due to lack of IT facilities.
“CBC puts a lot of emphasis on developing competencies, one of them being digital skills. Previously we had to skip instructions that provided an online link due to lack of computers but now we are happy because with these machines, learners will get an opportunity to access the learning material embedded in links,” stated the PS.
Dr Kipsang pointed out that ICT integration in education means seamless incorporation of information and communication technologies to support and enhance the attainment of curriculum objectives, enhance the appropriate competencies including skills, knowledge, attitudes and values, and to manage education effectively and efficiently at all levels.
He assured that the government attaches a lot of importance on ICT education and development given the crucial role the sector is expected to play in the vision 2030 development blueprint. Gender and Affirmative Action Principal Secretary (PS) Anne Wang’ombe affirmed that the Government had not set aside efforts to empower the boy child even as they work on projects to uplift the girl child.
She stated that the notion that the girl child has been over-empowered may come from the fact that initiatives to empower women and girls are becoming more and more visible and more women than men are taking up opportunities that target both genders.
Ms Wang’ombe disclosed that as the State with support of various stakeholders fights backward cultural practices that are harmful to girls and women, it had kept in mind the boy child’s welfare. “We can do something, however small, to put action to our faith and save the boy child. I believe we can because we are people and now it is the time to do so,” she added.
Speaking during the event Rift Valley Regional Commissioner (RC), Dr Abdi Hassan announced that the government has made significant progress in reducing banditry incidents and their consequences by up to 80 percent. Dr Hassan stated that the government is committed to eliminating the banditry threat and is stepping up efforts to destroy its political, cultural, and commercial networks.
He assured Kenyans that peace will be restored in the North Rift region, and across the country. “We are determined to restore peace in all parts of the Rift Valley Region that have witnessed disturbance of peace,” he said. The Regional Commissioner went on to say that the recently launched security operations in the North Rift region have been largely successful.
“The security operation in the North Rift has had a significant impact in restoring peace. Incidents of cattle rustling and banditry are being handled with new additional measures,” he said. The government has intensified its offensive on banditry across the country, in a mission that is led by Cabinet Secretary for the Interior and National Administration Kindiki Kithure.
The move to end banditry and cattle rustling has seen a multi-agency approach being employed, with officers from the Kenya Defence Forces, General Service Unit, and Administration Police, as well as Police Reservists working together. To promote peace in the North Rift Valley region, Dr Hassan stated that the government is setting up peace schools.
The move, according to the Regional Commissioner will help bring together children from different communities who have been affected by banditry “We are constructing peace schools in North Rift Valley Counties where children from different communities can learn and live together in harmony. That way, we will be creating a new generation that is not poisoned by negative things like banditry and livestock rustling.”
The Regional Commissioner explained that it was possible to unteach the children from the retrogressive culture of livestock rustling. This, he said, will be done by inculcating the right values, and imparting the children with education and other technical skills that will make them useful members of our society.
Hassan called on the area residents to discard practices that do not add any value to their lives saying in the current era, people fight intellectually and not physically.
The Regional Commissioner appealed to wananchi to support security officers in their work of ending banditry in the region so that they can engage in development activities saying the area was well endowed agriculturally not only to feed themselves but the rest of the country.