Ten schools in Lodwar town, Turkana, have been selected to pilot the digital literacy project.
The project is aimed at introducing young learners to creative coding and robotics in support of the Competency-Based Curriculum.
The eight-month pilot programme is funded by Raspberry Pi Foundation and implemented by the Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) and M-Lugha Foundation.
ICT clubs will be established where learners in Grades 4-8 will be guided to use Scratch, a tool approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.
Education, social protection and administration chief officer Moses Korea said digital literacy is important in the current age, especially given the significant gap noted in the arid and semi-arid counties.
“In the education stakeholders trilogy of digital devices, teachers and content, the child should be at the centre,” he said.
Korea spoke during a two-day training for 10 ICT teachers from the selected primary schools.
He said the EIDU digital literacy initiative targeting early childhood development would complement the project for primary schools, further enhancing ICT knowledge among learners.
FCDC education and governance sector lead Abdullahi Maalim said one of the key areas the project is keen on is sustainability for possible scalability.
Turkana county Teacher Service Commission director Sammy Loitakol urged teachers to utilise their knowledge and share it with their colleagues.
“Even as you educate the learners, also improve your lesson presentation to have more impact,” he said.
County ICT officer Washington Odoyo said the project would enrich the learners with the digital skills required in today’s world.
