Kenya orders 1.1m tablets from China

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

common sense tells me the kids in those despicable schooling conditions (and the larger community) are the ones likely to benefit even more from tablets and such learning aid technologies or just any technology just like the poor, unbanked have benefited more from MPEsa

There are already several randomized, controlled trials of schools with and without One Laptop per Child. Generally, what most of these studies show is that schools with laptops did not see their children gain anything in terms of academic achievement, in terms of grades, in terms of test scores, in terms of attendance, or in terms of supposed engagement with the classroom.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/536701/putting-technology-in-its-place/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/30/kentaro-toyama-geek-heresy-interview-technology

Here is a recent and quite readable article from Toyama, written in the context of "Exploring ICT and Learning in Development Countries":

There Are No Technology Shortcuts to Good Education
http://edutechdebate.org/ict-in-schools/there-are-no-technology-shortcuts-to-good-education/

There are no technology shortcuts to good education. For primary and secondary schools that are underperforming or limited in resources, efforts to improve education should focus almost exclusively on better teachers and stronger administrations. Information technology, if used at all, should be targeted for certain, specific uses or limited to well-funded schools whose fundamentals are not in question.
 

It is worth a careful read.

When Toyama talks about better teachers and stronger administrations of schools being important, Kenya looks like an excellent candidate:

most primary school teachers lack mastery of the subjects they teach.

http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Address-teacher-absenteeism-in-schools/440808-2701524-xr8os0z/index.html

Another issue that has not been adequately addressed is teacher absenteeism and lack of competence.

Reports, including a recent one by the World Bank, have said Kenya has some of the highest incidents of teacher absenteeism which, compounded by poor pedagogy, undermine the quality of teaching.

http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Editorial/It-is-time-to-address-what-ails-our-public-schools/440804-3015478-io1hmv/index.html

stunted growth due to the health deficiency and figures are estimated to have reached the 2.1 million mark.

http://kenyanewsagency.go.ke/en/malnutrition-derailing-kenyas-mdgs-targets/

Stunted growth:

is irreversible and associated with impaired cognitive ability and reduced school and work performance.

http://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/malnutrition/

Feeding such kids would have a more significant positive effect than later giving them tablets to go with under-developed brains.

I think there is still a chance to turn back.  Maybe learn from the inevitable futility of these first gadgets and pull back.  The better program, a no brainer really, computer labs - preferably for schools that have sorted out the fundamentos.  The savings can be used to fix fundamentos to bring the other schools up to speed.  But I understand this requires a somewhat responsible, wise and maybe even concerned leadership - something Kenya cannot count upon for the foreseeable future.

[veritas]

Pretty much every young hard working jama I've spoken to like a young hawker, matatu boy etc. tell me if only secondary education was free they'd go back to school. It's been on ODM's edu priority agenda for years. This is a fundamental initiative first and foremost needed to develop a tech eco-system.

ODM MPs push for free and compulsory secondary education
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000107807&story_title=mps-push-for-free-compulsory-secondary-education

By Mosoku Updated Tue, March 25th 2014 at 00:00 GMT +3
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000107807&story_title=mps-push-for-free-compulsory-secondary-education

NAIROBI, KENYA: Opposition MPs are now planning to amend the education act to compel the state to absorb all students who sit for class eight exams into secondary schools. The MPs want the law to make it compulsory for every Kenya child to get secondary education as part of basic education, which is guaranteed by the constitution of Kenya 2010. The ODM legislators say they are targeting Basic Education Act 2013, to have it amended and ensure the definition of basic education extended up to secondary school level and made free and compulsory.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000107807&story_title=mps-push-for-free-compulsory-secondary-education

[MOON Ki]

I think there is still a chance to turn back.  Maybe learn from the inevitable futility of these first gadgets and pull back.  The better program, a no brainer really, computer labs - preferably for schools that have sorted out the fundamentos.  The savings can be used to fix fundamentos to bring the other schools up to speed.  But I understand this requires a somewhat responsible, wise and maybe even concerned leadership - something Kenya cannot count upon for the foreseeable future.

If there is a pll-back, it will probably come from financial reality.    I poked around relevant GoK websites and found little evidence that there is much thinking or planning beyond dishing out these gadgets for one year---a larger and new cohort every year, maintenance, replacement at the expected end of product lifetime, etc.

As for the "leadership", here is its view:

global IT power house in a few years

 

[veritas]

A power house with a tablet? No wifi, no gift card, no nothing. Can't even play Pokemon go with it. Smarter option is get the little ones smart phones so they can use it for virtual reality learning, call their parents, use it years later for mpesa etc. as opposed to expecting these little ones to keep their tablets for the next 10 years if they go to college where tablets might actually be useful for taking notes during lectures. Nevermind the fact tablet battery has a shelf life of a couple years.

[RVtitem]

I think there is still a chance to turn back.  Maybe learn from the inevitable futility of these first gadgets and pull back.  The better program, a no brainer really, computer labs - preferably for schools that have sorted out the fundamentos.  The savings can be used to fix fundamentos to bring the other schools up to speed.  But I understand this requires a somewhat responsible, wise and maybe even concerned leadership - something Kenya cannot count upon for the foreseeable future.

If there is a pll-back, it will probably come from financial reality.    I poked around relevant GoK websites and found little evidence that there is much thinking or planning beyond dishing out these gadgets for one year---a larger and new cohort every year, maintenance, replacement at the expected end of product lifetime, etc.

As for the "leadership", here is its view:

global IT power house in a few years

 

Kenya you know is a free market economy. The government facilitates only, and it's therefore upon individual pupils to ponder how to use the tablets to propel kenya into a IT powerhouse.

[RVtitem]

This looks like the original tender Kadudu is referring to:

www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/10/02/keter-slams-ayiros-moi-university-appointment-as-plot-to-cover-graft_c1430526

Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter has said the appointment of Laban Ayiro as an alleged plot to cover up a Sh17 billion laptop tender scandal.
Ayiro was recently appointed as the acting vice chancellor of Moi Univesity in Eldoret.
Keter was among leaders who held protests at the institution, vowing to stop him from taking office.

Speaking to the Star on Sunday, Keter said Ayiro's appointment is linked to corrupt cartels.
"Some cartels swindled a huge amount of money meant for a laptop tender won by Moi University and a South African research and investing firm, JP SA Couto and are now trying to conceal the scandal," he said.

And then it was changed to tablets
www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/05/03/schools-about-to-get-laptops-but-are-teachers-ready_c1334981

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

I think there is still a chance to turn back.  Maybe learn from the inevitable futility of these first gadgets and pull back.  The better program, a no brainer really, computer labs - preferably for schools that have sorted out the fundamentos.  The savings can be used to fix fundamentos to bring the other schools up to speed.  But I understand this requires a somewhat responsible, wise and maybe even concerned leadership - something Kenya cannot count upon for the foreseeable future.

If there is a pll-back, it will probably come from financial reality.    I poked around relevant GoK websites and found little evidence that there is much thinking or planning beyond dishing out these gadgets for one year---a larger and new cohort every year, maintenance, replacement at the expected end of product lifetime, etc.

As for the "leadership", here is its view:

global IT power house in a few years

 

Depressing.  Because Mucheru is one of the few people with a functioning brain in the jubilant government.  They must know it is an annual ritual.  But again, is there a better way to eat.

[RV Pundit]

I agree with Mucheru - this is start of a big transformation. I cannot imagine what those kids would do. I first touched a computer at nearly 19yrs as first year computer science student in universities. Try as much I couldn't be bill gates or zuckeberg who were born with computers. Some of these kids are touching these things in class one. Just imagine how many thousand bill gates we will unleash to the world from 8M kids in primary now.

[MOON Ki]

I agree with Mucheru - this is start of a big transformation. I cannot imagine what those kids would do. I first touched a computer at nearly 19yrs as first year computer science student in universities. Try as much I couldn't be bill gates or zuckeberg who were born with computers. Some of these kids are touching these things in class one. Just imagine how many thousand bill gates we will unleash to the world from 8M kids in primary now.

How many "Bill Gates"s has the USA itself produced?   

[MOON Ki]

Depressing.  Because Mucheru is one of the few people with a functioning brain in the jubilant government.  They must know it is an annual ritual.  But again, is there a better way to eat.

Your friend with a functioning brain tends to have some very funny ideas.     His statements on Konza City have been amusing enough, but he has hit a new high with this tablets-for-toddlers business.   Here he is, just two days ago:

Kenya gears towards manufacture and export of ICT devices

Mr Mucheru said the government was putting in place structures and infrastructure to facilitate development of digital device manufacturing and assembling plants at the Moi University and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture to position the country as an exporter of ICT software and hardware.

http://www.information.go.ke/?p=2164

Universities as manufacturing and assembly plants?   (Not that there is any actual evidence of anything being put in place ...)

Also just two days ago, we got some information on how Moi University is doing its part to make Kenya the South Korea of Africa:

http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Audit-reveals-Sh1bn-loss-at-Moi-varsity/1056-3401960-format-xhtml-cvvaqe/index.html

(The "assembly-and-manufacture" partner, JP SA Couto, has a more straightforward approach: buy in China, deliver in Kenya .... which Kenyans can't do because?)

As the Hon. M. Kibaki would say: kazi iendelee.   

[MOON Ki]

So what happened to the idea of "locally manufactured laptops"? I thought the Education Ministry gave out tenders to 3 local universities to assemble the gadgets locally and make jobs for thousands of youths. Now it turns out the gadgets are to be imported from China.

Here is what CS Mucheru stated just 4 days ago:

Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development in ensuring local assembly of digital devices. 

http://www.information.go.ke/?p=2155

[Empedocles]

So what happened to the idea of "locally manufactured laptops"? I thought the Education Ministry gave out tenders to 3 local universities to assemble the gadgets locally and make jobs for thousands of youths. Now it turns out the gadgets are to be imported from China.

Here is what CS Mucheru stated just 4 days ago:

Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development in ensuring local assembly of digital devices. 

http://www.information.go.ke/?p=2155

Maybe he learned some tricks from Trump.

[RVtitem]

And even more


Kenya gears towards manufacture and export of ICT devices
http://www.information.go.ke/?p=2164

The current Digital Literacy Program being implemented is projected to make Kenya one of the leading exporters of innovative services and products in the next 15 years, ICT  Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru has said.

Are they planning to reverse engineer Chinese tablets?

[MOON Ki]

Are they planning to reverse engineer Chinese tablets?

No, that's too modest.   There are bigger things on the way 

Just imagine how many thousand bill gates we will unleash to the world from 8M kids in primary now.

I see no fundamental problems with the idea of Kenya assembling or even manufacturing tablets and laptops, although manufacturing is a long way off without serious players involved, and there is not the slightest hint of things in that direction. Still, I'm all for assembly as a starting point; and, in general, one can support some of these ideas without getting involved in some jerk-off fantasy about global IT powers.   

But where in the world are supposedly serious universities in the business of large-scale assembly (or manufacture)?  And what sort of university proudly states that its technology graduates have good job prospects on an assembly line (because the university plans on setting up one)?

Two points:

(1) Can such organizations produce at competitive rates even for local consumption, let alone for export?    JKUAT, for example, has been quite busy with its Taifa laptop.  (We'll assume that they are being locally assembled, but that's actually not entirely clear.)     In order to sell them, JKUAT's leadership has made statements that make Mucheru look like a man "with a functioning brain".   Listen from 00:47 here:

What the %@#&%!


(2) Recent reports from places like the World Bank claim that there is very little product-innovation, R&D, ...  taking place in Kenya---businesses are not putting money and effort into it, universities are not producing any ideas that can be turned into useful commercial products, etc

Here is the IT department at JKUAT proudly giving details of its Taifa laptop (as usual, no mention of the Chinese partner and its role):

http://www.jkuat.ac.ke/departments/it/taifa-a3-laptop/

Under "Research Publications":

http://www.jkuat.ac.ke/departments/it/publications/

The IT Department is part of a "school" that includes a Department of Computing, whose research highlights are:

http://www.jkuat.ac.ke/schools/scit/research/

What the %@#&%!

JKUAT needs to focus on its core mission, as a university, and none of that includes whacking home-made labels onto cheap Chinese junk and then, in a rip-off exercise, forcing the products down the throats of unsuspecting students and parents.

Moi University is even more of a joke ... and not just in IT.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

I agree with Mucheru - this is start of a big transformation. I cannot imagine what those kids would do. I first touched a computer at nearly 19yrs as first year computer science student in universities. Try as much I couldn't be bill gates or zuckeberg who were born with computers. Some of these kids are touching these things in class one. Just imagine how many thousand bill gates we will unleash to the world from 8M kids in primary now.

So Zuckerberg founded facebook because he touched a computer when young?  Is there any credible citation that proves this claim?  Maybe in Eastern Europe?  India perhaps?  Anecdotes, while interesting, are the worst form of evidence.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

So what happened to the idea of "locally manufactured laptops"? I thought the Education Ministry gave out tenders to 3 local universities to assemble the gadgets locally and make jobs for thousands of youths. Now it turns out the gadgets are to be imported from China.

Here is what CS Mucheru stated just 4 days ago:

Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development in ensuring local assembly of digital devices. 

http://www.information.go.ke/?p=2155

Left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Depressing.  Because Mucheru is one of the few people with a functioning brain in the jubilant government.  They must know it is an annual ritual.  But again, is there a better way to eat.

Your friend with a functioning brain tends to have some very funny ideas.     His statements on Konza City have been amusing enough, but he has hit a new high with this tablets-for-toddlers business.   Here he is, just two days ago:

Kenya gears towards manufacture and export of ICT devices

Mr Mucheru said the government was putting in place structures and infrastructure to facilitate development of digital device manufacturing and assembling plants at the Moi University and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture to position the country as an exporter of ICT software and hardware.

http://www.information.go.ke/?p=2164

Universities as manufacturing and assembly plants?   (Not that there is any actual evidence of anything being put in place ...)

Also just two days ago, we got some information on how Moi University is doing its part to make Kenya the South Korea of Africa:

http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Audit-reveals-Sh1bn-loss-at-Moi-varsity/1056-3401960-format-xhtml-cvvaqe/index.html

(The "assembly-and-manufacture" partner, JP SA Couto, has a more straightforward approach: buy in China, deliver in Kenya .... which Kenyans can't do because?)

As the Hon. M. Kibaki would say: kazi iendelee.   

It was functioning before he joined the jubilant administration.  I think once you are in there, you have to operate in a fact free environment.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

So what happened to the idea of "locally manufactured laptops"? I thought the Education Ministry gave out tenders to 3 local universities to assemble the gadgets locally and make jobs for thousands of youths. Now it turns out the gadgets are to be imported from China.

Here is what CS Mucheru stated just 4 days ago:

Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development in ensuring local assembly of digital devices. 

http://www.information.go.ke/?p=2155

Maybe he learned some tricks from Trump.

Just a matter of time before we learn of a laptop scam.  Not that it will matter one bit to the Kenyan on the street.

[RV Pundit]

The impact of this transformative project is hard to fathom for many. You just need to see what Estonia did when they introduced computers to every kid in 1995. Estonia was not a rich country but ambition is all you need.

Jubilee deserve all the praise for attempting to do this.

[MOON Ki]

The impact of this transformative project is hard to fathom for many. You just need to see what Estonia did when they introduced computers to every kid in 1995. Estonia was not a rich country but ambition is all you need.

Why don't you how us what we need to see.   Have they produced "many thousand bill gates"?