Intel enhances e-learning in Kenya

Intel Corporation will scale up its investments to help bridge the digital divide by rolling out more ICT projects targeting the country’s education sector.

The company has already spent more than USD1 billion in more than 60 countries and 2.5million employee volunteer hours - including Kenya to roll out various e-learning initiatives in working with both government and non–governmental organisations.

Intel is currently visiting with a team of five volunteers as part of the collaboration with Orphans Overseas to extend benefits of technology specifically designed for education - the Intel-powered classmate PCs to children and teachers at Karibu Centre situated in the outskirts of Thika.

The Intel volunteers are part of a larger team that is simultaneously working in Uganda and Egypt among other countries rolling out the latest technology using the classmate PCs.

“We want to help harness the combined potential of high speed connectivity and technology to open up opportunities in information technology to young people. Such opportunities will spur locally owned and operated computer services industry, help boost local economies, decrease unemployment and help alleviate poverty”, said Mr Lawrence Hurst, Intel Corporate Anti-Counterfeit and Product Fraud Protection Manager who is leading the Intel volunteer team.

The Thika project is just the latest in a number of projects that Intel is rolling out as part of its corporate social responsibility initiative in collaboration with both the Kenyan government and private NGOs.

Intel is a participant in the Clinton Global Initiative to bridge the digital divide, and through its Intel Teach program, has trained more than 7 million teachers worldwide to use PCs in the classroom in more than 50 countries.

It is also donating 100,000 PCs to developing countries like Kenya to help accelerate technology use in the classroom hence effective interaction between teachers and students.

Ian May, the director of Orphans Overseas, said, “We see the use of these computers in this incredibly disadvantaged community of women and children as a means of opening a new world of hope and opportunity that never existed for them before.”

Intel-powered classmate PCs are rugged, affordable, student-friendly netbooks with full PC functionality.

They provide engaging, interactive ways for students to absorb information and create content.

And they give teachers the tools to individualise instruction and foster problem-based learning.