Electricity, lack of teachers hurt school laptop project

Some local schools are yet to reap full benefits of a digital learning programme due to some challenges.

This was established when a joint committee of the National Assembly and the Senate on ICT and Education, led by Christopher Andrew Langat (Bomet Senator), toured some schools in Uasin Gishu County to asses implementation of the programme.

The team visited Lelit Primary School to establish if learners had benefited from the programme.

The school was among the first to embrace the programme in 2016, but has not achieved much, the team noted.

The enrollment in Class One at the school was only 15 when the programme was launched, but the number has risen to 30, hence posing a challenge on use of the tablets.

“Pupils are now forced to share one tablet for two hence a challenge both to the learners and teachers,” said a teacher.

The school is also facing difficulty in paying its electricity bill.

At the same time, outages have also disrupted use of tablets, as there are no solar panels for power back-up.

The team also established that the school lacked experienced teachers to guide learners on use of the tablets.

During the fact-finding tour in the North Rift region, Inimah Getrude Musuruve (nominated senator) said the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development should ensure the tablets are favourable to persons with disability.

“A task-force is needed, as well as a survey to be conducted by ministries of ICT and Education, to know how pupils have received the programme,” she said.

Liza Chelule, the woman representative from Nakuru, recommended that both ministries need more support for the programme to be 100 per cent beneficial.