Ruto breaks ground for Utalii College Ildolisho Campus

President William Ruto on Sunday officially opened the Ildolisho Comprehensive School Konza Digital Skills in Kilgoris, Narok County.

The President later broke ground for the construction of the Kenya Utalii College's Ildolisho Campus.

The ICT and Digital Economy CS Ministry is tasked with rolling out digital labs across the country.

The institutions are under the government's Jitume digital laboratory initiative.

Kenya Kwanza government is banking on enhancing skills among the youth through the new technology to enable them to access the digital job market.

Further, the State plans use the ICT hubs to promote e-commerce and government services.

The primary objective of the labs is to train a youthful public workforce that initiates efficient and effective service delivery in different disciplines online.

In July last year, ICT CS Eliud Owalo said the government plan is to instal at least 1,450 digital laboratories with fibre optic installations around the country.

"The digital laboratory is a program within the Kenya Kwanza administration. We are establishing and operationalizing 1,450 digital laboratories to ensure that there is one in at least one ward," he said.

The launch of the digital hubs is followed by the installation of fibre optic cables and free Wi-Fi hotspots to ensure reliable and stable internet connectivity.

President Ruto's government has been keen on growing the economy through ICT and the digital space.

"The future is digital and data is the new oil. Make sure you learn programming, coding and automation," he said.

It is also banking on the digital world to create jobs (address unemployment),solve challenges in the health sector, seal revenue leakages, among others. 

According to Owalo, the ministry is targeting learning institutions such as high schools and Technical and Vocational Education Training Centers.

This, he said, is a deliberate effort by the President Ruto-led government to give digital skills to its populace to make the citizenry more competent for the new world order.

"You cannot survive in the world today without digital skills. Progressively, we will introduce you to digital jobs so that you can earn money by working from your computers," Owalo said.

He said the government will soon go paperless and encouraged the students to urgently acquire digital literacy skills, to access services on the e-citizen platform.

The CS said the government is actively addressing the high cost of internet through several initiatives.

These include the implementation of the Digital Masterplan 2022-2032 and the National Broadband Strategy 2018-2023, which aim to enhance digital infrastructure, improve internet accessibility, and foster competition among service providers which will lower prices.