National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Strategy for Education and Training

Abstract

This Strategy undertaking was prepared by the Ministry of Education (MoE) in collaboration with stakeholders from the public, private, civil society and development partner sectors. It outlines how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) will be adopted and utilized to improve access, quality and equity in the delivery of education services in Kenya. The Strategy is based on the vision that: “ICTs is a universal tool in education and training”. The mission statement that inspires it is: “to integrate ICTs in education and training to improve access, learning and administration.” The overall objective of the plan is to ensure that systematic efforts are made towards strengthening adoption and use of ICT in the education sector with appropriate attention given to education development priorities as outlined in the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERSWEC, 2003-2007); Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 entitled “A Policy Framework For Education”, Training and Research and the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The challenges that are outlined in these policy documents include; the need to achieve Education For All (EFA) by 2015 in tandem with the national and international commitment, Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2010, and to increase transition rate from primary to secondary schools from 47% to 70%. Policy documents in the education sector have given considerable attention to priorities related to access, quality, equity and relevance at all levels. This strategic plan considers and proposes that ICT can contribute substantially towards realization of these objectives. In addition, ICT has considerable potential to support implementation of Free Primary Education (FPE) and to address emerging challenges such as; overcrowded classrooms, high Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs) particularly in densely populated and semi-arid areas, shortage of teachers on certain subjects or areas, and relatively high cost of learning and teaching materials