Jubilee extends laptop scheme to private schools
Pupils at Kosawo Primary school in Kisumu use tablets in this picture taken in March1, 2017. Photo | Ondari Ogega |
What you need to know:
- Private schools pupils will get the government’s free tablets for Standard One
- The tablets are expected once Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology and Moi University complete assembling them.
- PS said the ministry would ensure all private schools access teachers and education materials.
Private schools pupils will get the government’s free tablets for Standard One, Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang said on Wednesday.
Dr Belio told private schools managers that the government had no intention of sideling them.
The PS said the schools would start getting the tablets once Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology and Moi University complete assembling them.
He was closing the 20th annual conference for private school managers at Sai Roc Hotel in Mombasa.
He said a senior ministry official would meet Kenya Private Schools Association members about this.
EXECUTIVE MEMBERS
“The CS and I will be meeting the executive members of your association next week in Nairobi and we shall discuss all issues you have raised with me,” added Dr Kipsang.
The government intends to have more than 1.2 million tablets assembled at the two universities before the end of the year.
“The two factories are finalising the assembling,” said the PS. He said private schools would get the tablets in the second phase.
“We don’t have private and public students. The ministry takes care of all children and we appreciate the good work you are doing in the nation’s development,” he said.
The private schools association chairman, Mr Mutheu Kasanga, briefed Dr Kipsang on issues facing private schools, including the Sh8.84 billion World Bank-funded Kenya Primary Education Development Project (Priede).
PRIVATE SCHOOLS
Ms Kasanga also said that private schools had been left out of the Sh5.38 billion literacy enhancement known as Tusome, funded by the United States Agency for International Development and the British Department for International Development.
The PS said the ministry would ensure all private schools access teachers and education materials.
“We have a director who takes care of both Tusome and Priede projects. I invite Elias Abdi to have a conversation with you on the way forward.
“As we prepare to print the second copies of the book of Priede, we want to see how we can work with you and how children in our private schools will benefit from the methodology and contents from the curriculum delivered from these concepts,” said Dr Kipsang.
