Samsung takes low-cost laptops to university’s doorstep

Samsung has partnered with a Kenyan university to enable students buy laptops at cheaper prices. The deal has seen the electronics giant lower laptop prices by 27 per cent to encourage more Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) students to own laptops.

New students joining JKUAT will receive laptops with payments deducted from fees. Students will pay Sh39,000, for the computer that costs Sh54,000 in the market.

JKUAT said it was looking to empower the 5,000 first year students who joined the institution recently with ICT skills.

“This initiative will go a long way towards opening up education opportunities to students as they tap into ICT to advance their skills,” the vice chancellor Mabel Imbuga said Tuesday during the signing of the deal at the university.

Prof Imbuga said the institution is working to boost its bandwidth capacity with the hope of achieving the recommended bandwidth of 10Mbps per 1,000 students by next year.

Data from the Kenya Education Network (Kenet) indicates only 45,000 students out of 400,000 university students have personal computers.
This represents 11 per cent of the total student population.

Kenet, which is in charge of promoting ICT use in higher learning institutions, says only 20,000 computers are shared by students in Kenyan universities.

Samsung plans to extend similar projects to other universities to boost computer usage among young people.

“Kenya is the fastest growing ICT hub in the region. We want to speed up the pace with this project,” Samsung Electronics East Africa chief operating officer Robert Ngeru said.

ICT secretary Fred Matiang’i pledged to offer support to similar projects, saying the government is keen to increase ownership of computers by students to about 65 per cent.

He said his ministry would partner with JKUAT in offering internship to students in ICT to equip them with skills such as security system management to help curb cybercrime, especially in counties where such skills are lacking.

JKUAT joins the likes of Strathmore University which gives new students laptops as part of its drive to boost innovation among learners.

Prof Imbuga asked the government to waive the 16 per cent VAT tax on laptops purchased by students to boost usage.

“The students, having already paid, would have to pay an extra 16 per cent as VAT on the laptops. This is a great burden and we expect the Treasury will grant our request for a waiver,” she said.

This project follows that of the State in 2010 dubbed Wezesha where university students bought laptops discounted by Sh9,600. It was meant to increase ownership of laptops by students with five per cent of the computers reserved for physically challenged learners.

Wezesha was funded by the World Bank to the tune of Sh160 million and implemented in phases.

By the close of the programme in 2011, about 16,000 students had purchased computers from retail outlets such as FoneXpress/Orange, Safaricom and PC World/Airtel. Others are Win Comp Services and Ravenzo/Yu shops. However, some students bought the discounted laptops and sold the to third parties at higher rates.