IBM donates Ksh 6 billion for technology programmes in Africa

The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has donated 60 million dollars towards Africa’s Digital Literacy Programme.

This is the announcement made by Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi during an interview with Citizen TV’s Anne Kiguta.

Kaimenyi, who was attending the Sixth Annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit co-hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta, said that the Digital Literacy Programme will enhance education in the country by equipping learners with basic Information Technology skills.

Mr. Kaimenyi said the project will cost a government an estimated Ksh 7.4 billion and is expected to conclude by next year.

The 60 million dollars, an equivalent of Ksh 6 billion, will go a long way in financing the project that will see African learners access tablets instead of the earlier proposed laptops.

Kaimenyi said the project has also received endorsement from several other computers manufacturers including the Helwett Packard (HP).

He said that the government will also make use of local innovators like the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture ant Technology (JKUAT) and Moi University that have already assembled laptops locally.

On June 22^nd this year, the government announced that the one laptop per child project for Kenyan primary schools was no longer feasible and instead opted for a more integrated approach dubbed Digital Literacy Programme.

ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said the inter-ministerial secretariat has eighteen months to implement the project.

“In the next 18 months, all the resources, human and financial, will be redirected to make sure the Digital Literacy Project is successful,” said Matiang’i.