School laptops project rollout set to be completed next year

All Class One pupils in over 20, 000 public schools will have received laptops or tablets under the Sh13 billion Digital Literacy Programme by March next year.

Distribution of the devices began on Tuesday with 12,000 devices targeting 150 public primary schools in a pilot stage.

Mombasa and Kwale counties are the first beneficiaries followed by Garissa, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Kisii, Uasin Gishu, Kakamega, Bungoma and Kajiado.

The exercise is expected to close around mid-May. Four schools received their laptops in March, marking a sample of the entire Proof of Concept stage of the project’s delivery.

Acting CEO, ICT Authority, Robert Mugo said the actual delivery of the laptops begins in July with a rollout to 11, 000 schools.

“By March next year, we expect to have covered all 23,952 public primary schools. A total of 1.2 million devices will be delivered to public primary schools across the country by next year,” said Mr Mugo.

The pilot stage determines whether the two consortia of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and Moi University move to the second and actual stage of the project.

During the stage known as Proof Of Concept (POC), the consortia showcase their skills by installing laptops, routers and servers in the 150 schools.

Education secretary Fred Matiang’i said the exercise was a major milestone towards preparing young Kenyans to be competitive globally.

Dr Matiang’i spoke Thursday when he inspected the handing over of 104 devices to Musa Gitau Primary School in Kiambu County and 115 devices to Ndurarua Primary School in Nairobi County.

The devices being handed to schools include luminous green tablet for the pupils, sky blue laptop for the teachers, projector and digital content server and wireless router.

Special schools will receive a sky blue laptop for special needs learners and a Braille embosser.