Kenya Presentation Notes

Here are my random notes from the session I attended about Educational Technology in Kenya -- I'm definitely doing my reporting now and plan to do my reflecting later. 

The presenter was from the Ministry of Education. By the end of the presentation the question he was asked -- what is the per-pupil annual spending on education in Kenya? Answer: $60/year.

Primary & Secondary Schools

• 10.4% Internet penetration – 2,000 cybercafes
  
• 15% (3,000 schools) have electricity
  
• 500 Primary Schools have computers (mostly private)
  
• 180,000 teachers, each with a mobile phone
  
• 85% of Secondary Schools are in rural areas

Challenges

• Power – 32% of Kenya’s population connected to national grid
  
• Infrastructure
  
• Lack of Computers
  
• Lack of Connectivity
  
• Lack of Digital Content
  
• Enormous amount of E-Waste

Initiatives

• Kenya e-schools program and NEPAD Initiative – Infrastructure
  
• Capacity Building
  
• Microsoft School’s Agreement
  
• e-Pals

SEMA Initiative

• Simple Text Messaging System – SMS Application through cell phones
  
• Mobile telephony has rapidly grown – 12 million subscribers in ‘08
  
• Changed many lives on the continent
  
• Education Results – 
  
• Collaboration tool for teachers & administrators
  
• Education Management Information (EMIS)
  
• Use as a field instrument
  
• Blogs for cell phone users – youth and out of school groups

Interventions and Options

• Submarine cable establishment
  
• Broadband connect6ivity, connecting cities and towns and lowering costs
  
• Mobile telephony companies offering affordable Internet to community centers and schools

Administrators

• Need to embrace technology in their administrative work
  
• Integration of tech in ed assessment, training & quality control

BLC08

• Forum for networking & sharing & best practices & success stories
  
• Collaboration expected to increase access to education & learning
  
• Access to info helps better decision-making
  
• Improved quality of education

Dan Nijiriri – Kenya ICT Trust Fund

• Partnership with Delta College in Saginaw, Michigan
  
• Started 17 years ago with a grant, continued with friendship, internships
  
• Rural Schools Computer Project
  
• Raided funds for computers and books all over Kenya
  
• Recycling through reuse
  
• Ship 40-ft containers with thousands of books – around $4000 to ship -- $10/computer
  
• Huge community response in terms of donations
  
• Growing to include medical equipment & internships with medical students
  
• Huge need in terms of things we just throw away
  
• Seeks donations & develops partnership
  
• Computerizing the police force rather than using manual system
  
• Police communicated using blogs on e-Pals!
  
• Rural Schools in Nakuru Town (4th largest town in Rift Valley)
  
• Case Study – Emining Primary School
  
• Located in Koibatek District in remote area
  
• First step was to bring electricity to town
  
• “Hey brothers, come and see mine works like magic.”
  
• Communication was improved – mobile phones stronger
  
• Improvement for whole community
  
• Local leadership built a better school to support leadership -- Among first to connect with e-Pals (Samuel Staple School in Connecticut). Students interact and exchange information freely
  
• School is now a registered member of e-Pals
  
• From Grass (1997) to to Grace (2007)
  
• E-Waste Issues -- Donate for re-use, repair & refurbish, recycling recovery of valuable components
  
• Come to Kenya!