Kenya’s laptops for schools dream fails to address reality
▻http://www.zerogeography.net/2013/06/kenyas-laptops-for-schools-dream-fails.html
Kenya has recently announced an ambitious plan to deliver 1.3 million laptops to schoolchildren. The project will cost over 600 million dollars (53 billion Kenyan Shillings) and will begin to be implemented this year.
This is not simply a procurement issue or a small part of a larger educational strategy. It is the strategy. The budget, released yesterday, claims that the government “has prioritized transforming the educational system to e-teaching and e-Learning.” By contrast, the same budget contained only 34.7 billion shillings for healthcare, and 67 billion for the police force. In a country faced with an extremely limited amount of financial resources, this is a very bold move to be making.
In some ways, the strategy appears to be an attempt to reinforce Kenya’s status as Africa’s digital heart. (...)
Having a well-educated citizenry is without a doubt a way for the country to help itself out of poverty. But is betting the farm on e-teaching and #e-learning a sensible strategy? More important, is it an equitable or just development strategy?
