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.

Irony of digital government foreign ministry hacked

Irony of digital government foreign ministry hacked

Photo:hackread.com

By MUSYOKA NGUI

If it is true that the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs accounts were hacked April 2016 then government must do all possible to secure tax payer’s information in confidence away from malicious damage.

According to available information, the hacking responsibility was claimed by “Dark Web” a set of websites which maintain online presence yet their IP addresses remain anonymous.

Collectively called “Anonymous”, the clever cyber criminals claimed to have stolen both confidential and non-confidential information from the government. The total sum in question is allegedly 1TB of data.

In a bid to drive fear among government operatives, the hacktivists claim to have leaked just a small quarter of the total cache.

It is important for the Information and Communication CS Joe Mucheru, NIS and Police to investigate if this leak was an inside job or it is from remote servers.

The government must also invest in more secure and technologically updated data storage facilities including encrypting information and classifying it and trusting few privileged administrators who must be held directly responsible for any security breach of data.

While CS Mucheru has denied the authenticity of the said leaked report, it is not lost on observers that the government appears vulnerable. Ironically, Jubilee manifesto was dubbed digital. What now is this?

State secrets must be kept away from enemies and secret watchers since the government’s prime responsibility is to protect its people and in this case its property-including State data. There should, however, be a balance between clamping down on whistleblowing and national security interests-something which the New Constitution 2010 is on path to realize.For more on this read https://www.hackread.com/anonymous-hacks-kenya-ministry-foreign-affairs/

If it is free then you’re the product

If it is free then you’re the product

By MUSYOKA NGUI

A sense of gratitude is a most appreciable value that mortals relish in being complimented. Being told thank you , not just as a formality but an involuntary acknowledgement of a favor, sets of acts of kindness that are never forced but meant.

It is a form of recognition that one has positively impacted others’ lives; put a smile on their faces and contributed to their happiness. In effect, making life bearable for self and others lengthening it from mere existence to enjoyment and cherishing every waking second. Coz let’s face it, life can at times be hard but with people who spice it for others, it helps define the elusive and proverbial meaning of life as we know it.

A facade with the new and now of today is thinking that it takes expensive gestures to make differences in others’ lives. Loved ones obsessed with money, expensive gifts and misplaced senses of entitlement.

What they do not know is that when one shares with you their time you get a piece of their life that cannot be brought back. More valuable than material gain and short term satisfaction.

In the increasing consumerism of 21^st century, let it not be lost on us that while corporates pursue profits, humans should think if it is worth the risk. Is the effort worth the gain? What shall you gain by breaking up a hitherto fruitful relation just because your attitude and ego tells you that you are underrated? Sounds insurable, commodification of people and psychological freebies that do not tell you that if it is free then you are the product.

Saying thank you is not supposed to be a ritual. Neither is it supposed to be a reminder. It is an innate jerk that people credit others in humility. You are self made? Self made? Did you create yourself?

Not only giving gratitude but making a mental note that a good turn deserves another. Return the favor. Like no one really is born the gift that keeps on giving and never receives. Even a casino that never loses also from time to time rewards loyal gamblers.

The Star Takes You All the Way In Past the Gatekeepers

The Star Takes You All the Way In Past the Gatekeepers

Caps locked headline before The Star re-branded

By MUSYOKA NGUI

The Star newspaper has rebranded to be a political paper. In a catchy commercial running in the Radio Africa Group radios, the paper “goes past the corridors of power, past the whispers, the interns, the security guards and ‘takes you all the way in’ “. Interesting.

The rebranding has eliminated the block capital letters that wrote the headlines. They looked ugly and kind of in your face. They smacked of an utado attitude and more often than not touched what Daily Nation and The Standard dared not. Of course it came with credibility issues. Anyway they had the benefit of doubt as the new kid on the block and “fastest growing newspaper”.

New The Star logo

The graphics are superb. There is more color, spaced print and big pictures. I like the Victor’s editorial cartoons and Gathara’s.  What I don’t agree with is that pictures can substitute content. You can have tabloid pictures but minus in- depth features the paper can just be another photo album. You don’t want that.

Kenyan editors have for a long time set politics as the day’s agenda. It is served as breakfast, lunch and dinner. Much like the staple ugali. And Kenyans like politics. It lets them exercise their opinion rights for so long a time that they forget the real issues. Too much politics breeds noise and repetition bordering on redundancy.

JKUAT, Moi win Jubilee Laptop tender

JKUAT, Moi win Jubilee Laptop tender

A pupil uses laptop./Allafrica.com

By MUSYOKA NGUI

The Jubilee Standard One pet project has gotten a breather after local universities won the coveted tender to supply laptops to school children.

The Sh.17 billon project will usher in job opportunities for the comrades and professors who will be involved in assembling computer parts and consulting for the information technology learning popularly called Digischool.

It is only 18 months to 2017 general elections and Jubilee pledge has been largely delayed by court cases and debates on whether kids really need laptops or tablets and/or computer labs will just serve them fine.

The laptop project is behind schedule by two year given the first batch of beneficiaries was to enjoy the digital learning by January 2014.

Dr. Fred Matiang’i who initiated the project as the ICT CS has since been moved to the education docket and is expected to oversee the roll out of the grand plan. Of late, he has embarked on impromptu visits in schools to assess their capacities as learning centers occasionally catching school heads flat footed.

Jubilee duo UhuRuto ran on digital wave to clinch presidency in 2013. It is not lost on observers that the laptop tendering has been mired in corruption allegations of which Jubilee rebel MP Alfred Keter(Nandi Hills) has milked considerable political capital.

In Kitui County, three schools will benefit from the pilot project for digischool. They are Kitui Central Primary, Kalumu Primary and Muthue Primary. They represent urban, peri urban and rural locations respectively. The full list of all selected schools for the pilot program is available at http://digischool.icta.go.ke/pilot/