The Government plans to take full advantage of emerging Information, Communication Technologies (ICT) to strengthen students’ access and quality of education, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has said.
Machogu said this when he met the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company, Mr. Enrique Lores who had paid a courtesy call in his office Tuesday.
Present during the occasion was the Principal Secretary for Education, Dr. Belio Kipsang and senior officials in the ministry.
CS Machogu said that ICT has created opportunities that the government wants to use in delivery of education services to the citizens.
The Cabinet Secretary said e-learning had the capacity to improve effective learning at all levels of education apart from enabling the government to use information about education to maximise on investments it makes in education.
Mr. Machogu said the government should build the capacity of teachers and learners to make use of the ICT in the implementation of the curriculum.
He welcomed the partnership between HP and the government to optimize the education solutions it has.
In his response, Mr. Lores said his company had the capabilities to provide technology solutions to education.
Dr. Kipsang said the government had leveraged on ICT to develop a system it now uses to disburse capitation to schools under the Free Primary and Free Day Secondary education programme.
He said technology would also help to address learner access to teachers in the northern parts of Kenya where teacher shortage has undermined learning. He said the ministry could use virtual learning where a teacher could remotely provide instruction to many schools
He said the government wants to leverage on the technology to adopt e-assessment— when an assessment is created, written, delivered and marked with technology—to ease the assessment of learners at basic education levels.
