Tots tapping tablets to transform teaching

Tots tapping tablets to transform teaching

Standard One students have received tablets from Kenyan government. Photo/ICT Authority

Now we are facing a stark challenge of sustainability of such populist tablet project which as we know it, orgasmed before making out.

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Free tablets are here after the long wait. Jubilee administration has finally pulled the long shot that to Cord only reminds them that the manifesto said the Uhuruto promised free laptops and not free tablets.

Nursery and kindergarten kids are swiping away, as it were. Standard One kids are now the newest geeks in town.

What is not clear is if the requisite infrastructure is in place.  Instructively, the tablets are supposed to be stored in secure warehouses within the school compounds-something that is not entirely present in a section of the schools.

Education Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i has played a critical midwifery role in the digitization process. He is also the mastermind behind the overhaul of  8-4-4 system that for three decades was high on theory and low on practical.

Anyway, what the education mandarins should never forsake is the plight of the Kenyan teacher. The primary and secondary one whose sole responsibility is to mentor the youth intellectually and morally. Nothing is as insulting and disrespectful than the elite of this nation despising teachers who made them who they are both literally and figuratively yet they cannot bring themselves to increasing their salaries with 50-60 % rate even after courts ruled thrice in the favor of tutors.

The result is demoralized teaching fraternity, neglected and largely computer illiterate yet they are supposed to use the tablets to teach when they themselves need Computer Skills 101.

The government chose to introduce tablets instead of laptops unlike in Rwanda. Now we are facing a stark challenge of sustainability of such populist tablet  project which as we know it, orgasmed before making out. No matter the model, a tablet cannot stay in the market for more than a year. What will happen to the obsolete machines? Are we facing yet another environmental dumping challenge (after polythene papers) of computer spare parts left lying around without being recycled? Again, these kids might be affected by computers-the tablets.

INTERNET OF THINGS

While research shows that the more we get connected the more isolated and detached from reality and society we get, how will kids cope with being antisocial instead of learning interpersonal communication skills whey will be busy chatting online with strangers some of whom may prey on them.

Kids must be protected from negative internet. They are excitable and the adrenaline of the green dot can turn anyone even adults to addicts, zombies and lazybones only to succumb to obesity after sitting around eating as they  troll the internet all day without exercising as earlier generation children played outdoor, had real fun and visited relatives and friends.

Much will be said about how technology needs to be embraced but the problem is not the internet but how we use it.