We have, in a previous blog, debated and extensively discussed the laptop project. The recent take by Daily Nation business columnist Jaindi Kisero is one other critical view of this project.
Now
that the courts have ruled against the award of the tender to supply
the one million laptops to Standard One pupils, this might be a good
time for the government to review the whole strategy.
Providing
laptops to primary school pupils could be viewed from many angles. A
simple one is of course political, where the Jubilee government promised
to deliver the laptops to pupils during their first year in office.
This
view is quite narrow and places more emphasis on delivering the laptops
rather than the expected value proposition that such laptops would
present to the children of Kenya.
Politics
being a zero-sum game, one would expect the opposition to mount
pressure on the government by citing failure to deliver the laptops as
just one more digital lie from the Jubilee administration.
Now
that the courts have made it impossible to deliver the laptops inside
Jubilee's first two years, this may be an opportunity to reboot and
reconfigure this digital promise into the right path towards
transforming Kenya’s education sector.
Surprising
as it may be, procurement is actually the smallest challenge facing
this project. Distributing a million laptops across various primary
schools in 47 counties and keeping them safe and working is actually the
bigger problem.
The
court ruling allows the ministry of education to consider issuing the
tender in lots or batches such that the top two bidders could perhaps
share the load of distributing laptops across the country.
'CHALK AND TALK'
This
may also indirectly eliminate the problem of the next cycle of losers
running to place an injunction in court against the winners – tying up
the project in a perpetual deadlock.
The
other challenge is that quite a big number of the primary schools lack
electricity. Powering up these laptops would require significant
investments in wiring up and subsequently transmitting power.
With
the recent activities from the Ministry of Energy aimed at doubling our
power generation over the next five years, the laptop project maybe the
only reason, if not the only excuse, to provide power to remote sectors
and villages in Kenya.
But
logistics and supply are not the only challenges. Adoption of ICTs and
their use in teaching and learning by teachers are likely to be the
biggest hurdles for the project.
Even
at university level, you will find many lecturers resisting technology,
preferring to remain in their comfort zone of “chalk and talk” while
making use of the infamous “yellow notes”.
EXPENSIVE TOYS
Training
in the use of ICT in education may help, but by and large, coercion in
the form of annual appraisals with corresponding reward or punishment
for ICT adoption in teaching may eventually be necessary. Otherwise
nothing will stop teachers from considering these laptops as expensive
toys to be enjoyed by pupils during their break time.
The
court ruling also gives the ministry time to review and ask the hard
questions. Should we be buying laptops, tablets or desktops? Better
still, must we buy them? Shouldn't we be first assembling and then
manufacturing them in the long run?
Is
primary school the best entry point for ICT in education or would there
be better returns if we targeted secondary schools and universities?
Indeed,
the court ruling must be music to opposition ears. But for the Jubilee
administration it should be time to have a fresh start, with ample time
for better planning and execution of a potentially life-changing,
transformative initiative.
Mr Walubengo is a lecturer at the Multimedia University of Kenya, Faculty of Computing and IT. Twitter:@jwalu
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