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Technology uptake in schools to shape future careers - experts

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Campaigns to see more technology advancement uptake in Education institutions continues to attract more interest from experts and stakeholders.

This is as future career paths are expected to depend majorly on technological skills.

Janet Mulei, the Managing Director of Diamond Junior School, founded it in 2009 in pursuit of her passion to equip and inspire children to achieve their full potential.

The former Beauty Pageant winner, Miss World Kenya 2003 has embraced co-curriculum activities such as robotics and coding.

“To tackle emerging opportunities, students need to be exposed to artificial intelligence skills, big data, and the internet of things, non-humanoid robotics and encryption. These skills are set to drive future growth across industries as diverse as health, education, marketing and agriculture amongst others,” says Ms Mulei.

Diamond Junior School, a GESS Awards 2019 winner in the category, Best Use of Digital Learning in the Classroom as well as a Member of the Kenya Private Schools Association, has recently opened a new campus in Crystal Rivers, Athi River, offering both CBC and British Curriculums.

This year Diamond Junior School participated in the 2023 First Lego League Competition that took place at the International School of Kenya (ISK).

Out of the 19 teams that participated, DJS took forth position in the competition which involved, project-based tasks, extensive handling of robotics and experiential hands-on programs that got the young learners to grow their confidence, critical thinking, coding and design skills that spark excitement about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

“Virtually, every country in the world is working towards a digital economy. As this new economy evolves, special skills like computer programming are needed, our students need to learn these new technologies early enough and be proficient in them,” she said.

Several studies have assessed the effect of learning code on primary school children – usually between the ages of six and 13. In each case, the findings show that it is beneficial to children, irrespective of their career path later on in life.

To give back to the community, Janet runs the Born to Shine Foundation, where she provides opportunities for orphaned and abandoned children to explore their talents, unlock their potential as they learn new skills.

The children aged between six to 12 years engage in different activities such as music, swimming & golf during the weekends while those in their teens are accorded mentorship opportunities into different careers.

With a heart for the welfare of children with special needs, Janet serves as a board member of GWEZA foundation which is an NGO in Kenya that caters for the welfare of children with special needs.

She's a former Miss World Kenya, crowned in 2003 when she was 18 years and represented Kenya in Miss World competition held in Sanya, China.

She was able to pursue this incredible opportunity through which she says was a spinning of God’s hand. Before she started her degree at the University of Nairobi, she had two gap years.

Due to financial constraints, she was unable to start a course and so she threw herself into looking for job opportunities in commercials and landed in the Miss World Kenya competition. She is happily married and blessed with 3 amazing children, two boys and a girl.