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Remote parts of Kenya have trouble attracting professional teachers. Some schools are using computers to compensate for the lack of human instructors. Despite the obstacles digital learning brings with it, the schools are pleased with the results.

By Dinfin Mulupi

Kenya’s digital learning experiment is expanding, with both the government and private sector championing its adoption. Digital learning – academic instruction using a computer – is often considered an advantage when distance is an obstacle to education. Schools in the drought-ravaged North Eastern Province are now deploying computers to cope not with distance, but an acute shortage of teachers.

Schools in northeastern Kenya often have trouble attracting teachers because of the harsh living conditions, poor infrastructure and constant attacks from Ethiopian militia groups. Most schools in the region, which is the least-developed part of Kenya, record dismal academic performances and are estimated to have a paltry literacy rate of 8.5 percent.

Given the lack of teachers, high illiteracy and poverty levels in this region, advocates of digital learning say the computers are filling a crucial educational gap.

Take, for instance, Sakaba High School in Mandera West District, which has a teacher shortage.  Sakaba’s principal, Shabure Haji, believes digital learning is a boon for his students.

“With computers, students are able to use the Kenya Institute of Education digital content,” said Haji. “Students are therefore able to learn and access vital information even in the absence of a teacher.”

The school is currently awaiting the arrival of 11 computers the government is giving it as part of an economic stimulus plan. Until then, Sakaba’s 300 students have to scramble for time on the existing 22 computers.

Thousands of miles away, computers are helping educate the students at Turkana Girls Secondary School, located in the Turkana region which has been severely affected by drought. The principal of Turkana, Sister Florence Nabwire, agrees that computers hold the key to addressing the shortage of teachers.

“We currently have 13 teachers instead of the required 24,” Nabwire explained. “It is therefore difficult to fully attend to the 405 students we have. Computers promise to fill this gap. We do not have internet at the moment but we are trying to work on this. If we get internet our girls will be exposed to the world. They will have wider access to information, their rights and opportunities beyond the small world they are aware of now.”

These two schools are some of the more than 2,000 learning institutions that have benefited from equipment donated by Computers for Schools Kenya (CFSK), a nongovernmental organization.

According to CFSK Executive Director Tom Musili, the organization has deployed more than 45,000 secondhand computers to schools and trained more than 9,000 teachers in the last nine years. The organization has also devised a “computer lab on wheels” which is a 20-foot long container with computers, satellite connection and solar panels that moves from school to school. For its endeavors, the organization has been awarded several African ICT Achievers awards for its work to bridge the digital divide in Africa.

Brick and mortar -- or computers?

Critics of digital learning, also known as “e-learning,” have argued that digital learning diverts funds from the construction of physical classrooms that would serve more students to the purchase of computer hardware. Sakaba principal Haji disagrees. Given the choice between having a new classroom or computers, he would opt for the computers. Turkana principal Nabwire concurs.

“Computers will solve one of the region’s biggest challenges: access to knowledge,” argued Haji. “If we are able to address the current limitations such as power shortages, then using computers for learning will have great impact in the region.”

In resource-challenged rural areas like northeastern Kenya, the implementation of digital learning brings with it many challenges. These include power shortages, the high cost of computer maintenance, a limited number of computers per school and the lack of internet connectivity.  According to Haji, the generators needed during power outages use 5 liters of petrol a night. With one liter selling at Ksh. 150 this can become a burdensome cost for schools.

Academic content aids learning

One aspect of digital learning these schools do not have to worry about is content. In addition to content from the Kenya Institute for Education, academic publishers such as the Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) and Oxford University Press have digitized some of their content. For instance, KLB has released story books in CD format, whereas the KIE has released digital content for use in urban and rural schools.

The government is also investing in making high-quality online academic content available. Early this month Education Minister Sam Ongeri launched a computer-based system to connect teachers and students to textbooks online (www.elimuportal.net). Another joint initiative of the governments of Kenya, Belgium and Japan will connect more than 1,000 schools to a data center at the Kenya Science Teachers campus in Nairobi. This data center allows students access to past examination papers, textbooks and study guides. As part of this initiative, schools will also be allocated computers, power supply and internet connections.

According to Ongeri, the initiative will increase the use of computers for learning and promote equality by giving all students access to similar academic content. This is important for schools in marginalized areas like North Eastern Kenya, which face a myriad of challenges yet have to compete with students from other developed parts of the country.

Impact on development

“Three quarters of our computers have been allocated to schools in northern Kenya because the region has been more receptive,” said Musili. “The region will benefit hugely if exposed to information. Students can learn about other economic activities other than nomadism which has proved to be unsustainable. They can see how other arid areas in the world have achieved food security.”
Given the fact that mobile phones are cheaper and more accessible in Kenya than computers, is there a future in mobile learning? Musili doubts it.
“iPads would be more ideal,” he said.

Dinfin Mulupi
is a business journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is currently the
East Africa corresp for an online business paper based in Cape Town in
South Africa.

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