ICT Ministry to establish laboratories across country to boost digital literacy

The government has rolled out digital laboratories for schools across the country in a bid to scale up digital literacy and enhance access to digital skills among the youth and members of the public.

The program targets secondary schools, Universities, Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET), Vocational Training Centers (VTC) and village ICT hubs to facilitate the training.

A total of 23,000 devices will be installed in institutions across the country.

ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo said the digital literacy program was critical for the government to achieve its bottom-up economic transformation agenda.

Owalo noted that through the laboratories, the youth and other segments of the population at the bottom of the pyramid were set to benefit.

"This initiative targets to enhance digital literacy and skills among the youth and members of the public as the government moves to accelerate access to the internet through the digital superhighway project," he said.

He said the move was in tandem with the government's plans of leveraging technology to make it efficient and effective at the same time digitization of its services.

Speaking during the launch of a digital laboratory at Maseno School in Kisumu County, he noted that so far over 6,000 services have been digitized with additional services set to be uploaded on the E-citizen platform before the end of the year.

The CS also noted that they are setting up a total of 25, 000 free public wifi hotspots spread equally across the country targeting segments of youths and small-scale traders.

He asked them to take advantage of the digital laboratories and training and leverage of the free public wifi installed at various markets and bus parks across the country to venture into e-commerce.

The CS also noted that the government was in the process of rolling out a national addressing system and digital identification cards to make e-commerce a reality.

Former Kisumu Senator Hon Fred Outa hailed the ICT Ministry for its robust approach to place the country on the world map.

Outa who is the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of Blue Economy, Mining and Maritime Affairs said ICT has made the world a global village.

“Right now, you can know what is happening in every part of the world in the comfort of your house thanks to ICT,” said Outa.

Outa further told the students to take advantage of the digital laboratory to learn and explore.

“This is a tool that will connect you to the entire world and be able to learn about the history and culture of different countries,” he said.

He said President William Ruto’s administration has prioritized ICT and it is upon Kenyans to grab the opportunity and grow.