Look like SGR to Kisumu & malaba - aint happenning soon.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Under the second phase for the upper primary, (grades 4-6), which is set to run for five years, 24,000 schools will be targeted across the country, with each receiving 50 tablets and an extra one for the headteacher. The distribution will be staggered.

How does Jubilee see (that part of) an entire school---all students  in those grades and all their  teachers---working with just 50 tablets?   Perhaps sharing them in a lab?

I don't think they are doing labs.  It's the usual disorganization.  Maybe they now expect the kids to huddle around the "laptops".

As for the notion of some Gates emerging from all this, let us start with what they are actually doing.  Here is what the relevant ministry says:

Is DigiSchool introducing ICT as a learning subject in primary schools?

No, in this programme ICT will be used as a teaching and learning tool.

http://icta.go.ke/digischool/faqs/

Just another teaching and learning  tool.   That is, forget about things like learning how to build hardware, learning how to program, etc.

That is the most sensible use.  Teaching tools.  Learn how the world works.  It's always amazing when I look at some of the learning tools today's kids(USA) have.  But it requires a clear purpose.  An understanding that ultimately they facilitate and add to, not replace, classroom learning.  That is not to say it's what the Kenyans are doing.  But it's a good way to use them beyond just "having a gadget".

[MOON Ki]

That is the most sensible use.  Teaching tools.  Learn how the world works.  It's always amazing when I look at some of the learning tools today's kids(USA) have.  But it requires a clear purpose.  An understanding that ultimately they facilitate and add to, not replace, classroom learning.  That is not to say it's what the Kenyans are doing.  But it's a good way to use them beyond just "having a gadget".

That is fine.   The problem is when people---the peddlers, those at the receiving end, and the cheerleaders in the middle---start to have and promote wild dreams of how all this will lead to some  sort of technological revolution.   

Further, I think that in a place like Kenya, there would be more to be had from improving the quality of teachers (and teaching), the physical plants, nutrition, ... instead of relying on gimmicks.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

That is the most sensible use.  Teaching tools.  Learn how the world works.  It's always amazing when I look at some of the learning tools today's kids(USA) have.  But it requires a clear purpose.  An understanding that ultimately they facilitate and add to, not replace, classroom learning.  That is not to say it's what the Kenyans are doing.  But it's a good way to use them beyond just "having a gadget".

That is fine.   The problem is when people---the peddlers, those at the receiving end, and the cheerleaders in the middle---start to have and promote wild dreams of how all this will lead to sort of technological revolution.   

Further, I think that in a place like Kenya, there would be more to be had from improving the quality of teachers (and teaching), the physical plants, etc. instead of relying on gimmicks.

I think the importance of good teachers and direction, in today's world, is even greater.  Especially in a situation where one could afford to just give every child a laptop and unlimited data.  I can't think of a worse way to learn than being exposed to the WWW and the information overload.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Many basics missing in those pictures that laptops CANNOT mitigate.  I'd put a clinical officer to check out the kids in every school, before the laptops if those were the choices I had.

Papua New Guinea has some interesting lessons from their "laptop" program.

over time, fewer and fewer computers returned with students. Some computers were used as currency in trade with outsiders. Adults and older peers appropriated others. Solar panels also disappeared into the community. As a result Tekin and Mitiganap had insufficient hardware to support major use of laptops in classrooms.

https://www.ictworks.org/educational-laptops-papua-new-guinea/#.XNAcxXVKj8s

[MOON Ki]

I think the importance of good teachers and direction, in today's world, is even greater.  Especially in a situation where one could afford to just give every child a laptop and unlimited data. 

Absolutely.   For my kids' education (in this "information age")  I devoted a great deal of time and effort, got involved in all sorts of things,  looked into all sorts of this-and-that when it comes to learning, ... and I have grave doubts about any mindless belief in the power of technology.   I'd first focus on the quality of teachers, nutrition (as in school meals, if necessary), pleasant or at least comfortable physical surroundings (certainly not rocks under a tree), exercises areas, etc.

I can't think of a worse way to learn than being exposed to the WWW and the information overload.

Unfortunately, there seems to be an increasing confusion between "access to more information" and real learning or even just the "acquisition of knowledge".   And the confusion seems to be greatest among those least equipped to make the judgment.

Moreover, in a place like Kenya, even the information these kids have access to on their tablets is quite limited when compared to, say, a kid who has 24/7 high-speed access to the internet, along with access the digital contents of major libraries and all sorts of stuff like that.   Not just limited, but also of questionable worth.  Just what the Kenyan kids have on their tablets these days is not easy to determine, but when they started it looked like just a bunch of .pdf, .ppt, and that sort of files ... a mindless transfer from the stanrdard textbooks    Just what fundamental difference that is supposed to make, beyond chalk wielded by a good teacher, is unclear.   

I'm all for Kenyan kids getting into "high tech" early on in school.  Technology can be helpful in learning, and there is something to be said having ready access to the treasure-trove of information that is the WWW.   But the current laptops/tablets thing is little more than  a  bad (and, for Kenya, expensive) joke.    An election gimmick taken too far.   As for fuzzy predictions of technological wunderkinder  populating Legoland Konza City (in its current form/conception, another bad joke) in 20 years, Kenyan tech colossi (with old Jubilee tablets under their arms) bestriding the earth, ... shall we focus on the "fuzzy"?

[RV Pundit]

Watch this video. Jubilee really tried. 1M devices is no joke - distributed all over the country. In our company - we have been trying to roll out 1,000 tablets to our field guys - and it's such a hassle & hardwork.

[Nefertiti]

Not a guarantee but is a fair bet for the investment. We have star athletes cause no innovation or adroit strategy is needed to run...  on agric where some brain is needed subsector after sector has poofed with subsudies all over. Kenyans have been taking IT classes in private schools, homes or college - no sign of genius past Shem Ochuodho or Ndemo. Safaricom can barely make a chatbot

So I say it's a drop in the ocean chance worth taking.

Want to bet on that.

Yes, it is alive and kicking.
Now let us just wait for 15 years and our Kenyan born Bill Gates will arise.

[Nefertiti]

Right. I know Ruto has plucked a few fruits by copying Kibaki. It's why they score a mere D+.. Uhuru kind of incompetence would be plain F.

Implementation matters. All these ideas have been sitting on books for years. Nobody really has patent for these well known programs.What Jubilee did manage to achieve in their first term - was to get the job done. Look at road annuity program - Raila talked big about it 2004-2005 before he was fired - and they laid there - until Ruto took over it.

Jubilee collected a few hanging fruits they learned from Kibaki FPE. These free maternity, TIVET, FSE, etc. The borrow & build binge is a failed attempt to replicate Kibadinga without any foresight, creativity or analysis. Talk of incompetence - a project like Galana so basic and straight - dams wapi - yet the pigs already pocketed the kickbacks. Of the significant programs only the loss-mining SGR is visible. LAPSETT, Turkana oil - nothing.

We can be generous and award the inept duo a strong D+

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Watch this video. Jubilee really tried. 1M devices is no joke - distributed all over the country. In our company - we have been trying to roll out 1,000 tablets to our field guys - and it's such a hassle & hardwork.

I kind of like the Kapsabet Primary approach.  It appears they have the gadgets in a specific place, call it a lab.  It's an approach that can cut down the costs, make it sustainable while enhancing education.  The kids then access them with guidance from the teacher to reinforce things they have learned, in this case filtration.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  I would add an interactive session with the concept is worth a thousand pictures.  That is a good argument to have this project but the purpose needs to be spelled out as such.

[Nefertiti]

I kind of like the Kapsabet Primary approach.  It appears they have the gadgets in a specific place, call it a lab.  It's an approach that can cut down the costs, make it sustainable while enhancing education.  The kids then access them with guidance from the teacher to reinforce things they have learned, in this case filtration.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  I would add an interactive session with the concept is worth a thousand pictures.  That is a good argument to have this project but the purpose needs to be spelled out as such.

This has been happening for years in private schools and now the public ones with the Jubilee kindles. Of course I don't see any "revolution" from this - more like a progressive closing of the digital divide. The likes of Andela, Safaricom Academy, etc have been at it for a decade and there is nothing particularly inspiring about it. If you had talent in Kenya - on the scale of say India - big techs would have R&D labs and centers all over as they do in Israel or Russia, etc. Talent is abit more than education or training - it is cultural - the DNA that makes us is passed first from the evolutionary genes, early nurture, education, environment - samples out there of successful Kenyan models. Not Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

About culture - Kenya's is obviously off by a mile. You find bright A kids - after Math or Eng or IT bachelors degree - postgrad they all go MBA or some nonsense like that. 10% STEM udnergrads becomes 0.1% STEM postgrad. Because employers, the government, the media, the people - the CULTURE does not encourage STEM advancement. We are yet to turn the corner from worshipping thieves to uplifting visionaries and intellectuals. But I don't mean to digress.

This elementary computer class is an OK thing - not revolutionary, innovative, experimental - nor any kind of superlative. Just organic, progressive digitization driven by necessity. Never mind the poor execution.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

I kind of like the Kapsabet Primary approach.  It appears they have the gadgets in a specific place, call it a lab.  It's an approach that can cut down the costs, make it sustainable while enhancing education.  The kids then access them with guidance from the teacher to reinforce things they have learned, in this case filtration.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  I would add an interactive session with the concept is worth a thousand pictures.  That is a good argument to have this project but the purpose needs to be spelled out as such.

This has been happening for years in private schools and now the public ones with the Jubilee kindles. Of course I don't see any "revolution" from this - more like a progressive closing of the digital divide.

Maybe not even a closing of the digital divide but rather educational divide.  Imagine kids moving from writing in the dust and imagining stuff to interacting directly with a model demonstrating the relationship between pressure and volume.  Even if the digital divide remains, that is some serious progress.

The likes of Andela, Safaricom Academy, etc have been at it for a decade and there is nothing particularly inspiring about it. If you had talent in Kenya - on the scale of say India - big techs would have R&D labs and centers all over as they do in Israel or Russia, etc. Talent is abit more than education or training - it is cultural - the DNA that makes us is passed first from the evolutionary genes, early nurture, education, environment - samples out there of successful Kenyan models. Not Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

About culture - Kenya's is obviously off by a mile. You find bright A kids - after Math or Eng or IT bachelors degree - postgrad they all go MBA or some nonsense like that. 10% STEM udnergrads becomes 0.1% STEM postgrad. Because employers, the government, the media, the people - the CULTURE does not encourage STEM advancement. We are yet to turn the corner from worshipping thieves to uplifting visionaries and intellectuals. But I don't mean to digress.

That's a tough one.  I won't lie I know the answer.  Microsoft, Google have the Silicon valley ecosystem.  That is a super-massive system that extends beyond Silicon Valley into the general industrial economy of the US.  There might be a chance if Kagame were handed iron fist control of the entire East African region.  Gunia man Farouk Kibet and gang are not taking us there.

In general Application software development seems like the most readily accessible low hanging fruit that won't break the bank.

This elementary computer class is an OK thing - not revolutionary, innovative, experimental - nor any kind of superlative. Just organic, progressive digitization driven by necessity. Never mind the poor execution.

It's not revolutionary.  But it's a good direction if well managed(I am not holding my breath).  I'd like to see if there is a coherent process in place to shed some light on lessons learned.  To me, just watching that video, it seems obvious the one "laptop" per child approach should be cast out in favor of the lab approach.

[RV Pundit]

The shifting of goals is hilarous. Robina you're a clown. When the economy grows - it cooked or copied from Kibaki. When Jubilee hack digital learning in schools including very basic one - it not revolutionary. Wait for 20yrs.If kenya kids were doing great with little resources like really torn books - imagine what tech can do - tech here is leveling the ground - and these kids will be as competitive as any in the world.

[Nefertiti]

Perhaps it's my English... too Ivy League for you - let me rephrase: imagine a smart man like yourself worshiping and singing praises for a brazen thug like William Ruto. What is to be expected of the regular village drunkard? Digital school is OK - just not revolutionary -  a few more ingredients needed - culture in particular. Out here we worship Gates, Zuckerberg, Musk - not thieves, drug dealers and murderers - see the difference? US kids "learn" it's great to be an engineer or scientist or entrepreneur. What are the kids learning from Ruto in Kenya? 

Digital class is ok... Phew! not all bad. Re-read until you understand.

The shifting of goals is hilarous. Robina you're a clown. When the economy grows - it cooked or copied from Kibaki. When Jubilee hack digital learning in schools including very basic one - it not revolutionary. Wait for 20yrs.If kenya kids were doing great with little resources like really torn books - imagine what tech can do - tech here is leveling the ground - and these kids will be as competitive as any in the world.

[RV Pundit]

Yeah English not my strongest point but sound arguments is alien to you. Who is comparing US (a developed country) with Kenya a third world country. Kenya already has a very good education (quality wise it ranks with mid-tier countries - self-ranked under 30s) - and stuff like digischool have the 'leapfrogging' ability to get Kenya direct into 'US' level in decade like M-pesa has done to banking and payment systems.

Perhaps it's my English... too Ivy League for you - let me rephrase: imagine a smart man like yourself worshiping and singing praises for a brazen thug like William Ruto. What is to be expected of the regular village drunkard? Digital school is OK - just not revolutionary -  a few more ingredients needed - culture in particular. Out here we worship Gates, Zuckerberg, Musk - not thieves, drug dealers and murderers - see the difference? US kids "learn" it's great to be an engineer or scientist or entrepreneur. What are the kids learning from Ruto in Kenya? 

Digital class is ok... Phew! not all bad. Re-read until you understand.

The shifting of goals is hilarous. Robina you're a clown. When the economy grows - it cooked or copied from Kibaki. When Jubilee hack digital learning in schools including very basic one - it not revolutionary. Wait for 20yrs.If kenya kids were doing great with little resources like really torn books - imagine what tech can do - tech here is leveling the ground - and these kids will be as competitive as any in the world.

[Nefertiti]

I don't mean to mock your UoN education.. it merely ranks 1000 globally. 

But seriously "digischool" has been around for decades. If all the Kenyans who have attended the various IT or Computer Science classes, bootcamps or full diploma and degree courses were capable we would have seen our Gates or Zuckerberg by now. I gave you the example of other areas that are relatively even field West vs Third World - athletics and agric. It takes nothing to run but raw physical ability - so the Rudishas have been global stars forever - inspite of all the mismanagement, NOCK infighting, jokers like Wario and Echesa. Yet in agric where research & tech has progressed since mzungu - we swiftly sank to the bottom - the stone-age sugar, maize and coffee farmers who think Ruto or Raila has stolen their money.

Perhaps there is something unique about IT or software engineering - as bitmask thinks. But I don't see it. Of the hundreds of thousands already trained - no real super stars or inventions of note. Except MJ mzungu's M-Pesa. So I say there is a drop-in-the-ocean chance that a Gates or Google or such "revolution" results - 20 or 50 years from now. RV Pundit as a geek yourself yet you merely moonlight as small-time online hack. What great enterprise have you seen that points to say India-scale talent?

Nope, Digischool is ok - but merely progressive - DEFAULT organic step. Any regular fool could do it. Not new or revolutionary.

Yeah English not my strongest point but sound arguments is alien to you. Who is comparing US (a developed country) with Kenya a third world country. Kenya already has a very good education (quality wise it ranks with mid-tier countries - self-ranked under 30s) - and stuff like digischool have the 'leapfrogging' ability to get Kenya direct into 'US' level in decade like M-pesa has done to banking and payment systems.

[Nefertiti]

Exactly. Not sure how Pundit arrives at these pie-in-the-sky prophecies. 20 years from now so we can't ask for proof. What stop Kenyan farmers from shining - where the field was brutally  leveled by mkoloni - yet we gradually sank to mkia? Is IT simpler than farming?

If it were that easy just supply kids with laptops and 20 years later an IT industry is created, many other countries with much more resources than Kenya would have done the same ages ago. I do not need to bet on that as I know I am right.
Btw, India has built a relative strong IT industry without distributing computers to schools. There is more to it than just having the gadgets.

Want to bet on that.

[RV Pundit]

Estonia already proved that a poor country if it embrace tech early in school - can leverage it. I don't know what you're arguing about but producing Bill Gates is hardly a yardstick - for measuring education outcomes.

I don't mean to mock your UoN education.. it merely ranks 1000 globally. 

But seriously "digischool" has been around for decades. If all the Kenyans who have attended the various IT or Computer Science classes, bootcamps or full diploma and degree courses were capable we would have seen our Gates or Zuckerberg by now. I gave you the example of other areas that are relatively even field West vs Third World - athletics and agric. It takes nothing to run but raw physical ability - so the Rudishas have been global stars forever - inspite of all the mismanagement, NOCK infighting, jokers like Wario and Echesa. Yet in agric where research & tech has progressed since mzungu - we swiftly sank to the bottom - the stone-age sugar, maize and coffee farmers who think Ruto or Raila has stolen their money.

Perhaps there is something unique about IT or software engineering - as bitmask thinks. But I don't see it. Of the hundreds of thousands already trained - no real super stars or inventions of note. Except MJ mzungu's M-Pesa. So I say there is a drop-in-the-ocean chance that a Gates or Google or such "revolution" results - 20 or 50 years from now. RV Pundit as a geek yourself yet you merely moonlight as small-time online hack. What great enterprise have you seen that points to say India-scale talent?

Nope, Digischool is ok - but merely progressive - DEFAULT organic step. Any regular fool could do it. Not new or revolutionary.

Yeah English not my strongest point but sound arguments is alien to you. Who is comparing US (a developed country) with Kenya a third world country. Kenya already has a very good education (quality wise it ranks with mid-tier countries - self-ranked under 30s) - and stuff like digischool have the 'leapfrogging' ability to get Kenya direct into 'US' level in decade like M-pesa has done to banking and payment systems.

[Nefertiti]

There are countless billionaire techpreneurs in the West. No, they didn't do it by availing gadgets. We are debating about the Digischool program - is it a potential game-changer? Nope, the odds are 1-v-1M it's another sequent step infact lower in impact than say FPE. History, statistics, etc - disagree. The solo Estonia of course proves nothing - statistically - with different factors - cultural, geographical, political, etc.

But I agree here Ruto has done well - for a hare-brained Regular Joe that he is.

Estonia already proved that a poor country if it embrace tech early in school - can leverage it. I don't know what you're arguing about but producing Bill Gates is hardly a yardstick - for measuring education outcomes.

[Kadudu]

Estonia GDP per capita $22,989 (nominal, 2018)
Kenya GDP per capita $1,991 (2019 est.)
If Estonis is poor, what is Kenya?

Estonia already proved that a poor country if it embrace tech early in school - can leverage it. I don't know what you're arguing about but producing Bill Gates is hardly a yardstick - for measuring education outcomes.

[RV Pundit]

Estonia was poor in 90s when they embarkedon digital revolution..Kenya has proven itself with Mpesa and these kids will leapfrog us.