The following is a post from, Changez Ndzai, Vetting Officer at Camara Kenya.
iMlango is still making huge strides here in Kenya. The month of April is usually a month where most schools here in Kenya break for holidays but this hasn't stopped the project from moving forward. The Camara Kenya team, has been on the move to make sure every aspect of the project, especially technical proportions, are running smoothly and according to plan. In Kilifi county, about five schools have already been signed off. This means these schools are now meeting all iMlango requirements.
Progress is still being made in other counties like Kajiado, Makueni and Uasin Gishu, and our technical team has been busy in the field doing much of the installation works. This means by the beginning of the second term, everything will be in place for the students to begin training. Camara and Whizz in the past two weeks have been organising and conducting ‘Training of Trainers’ workshops, both here in Mombasa and Nairobi respectively. About seventy one (TOTs) have been undergoing training, and are expected to be able to pass on this knowledge and train other teachers back in their respective schools after the April holiday.
I got to spend some time with some of the teachers who were attending the one week training workshop here in our Mombasa Hub, and I managed to ask them what were they were expecting to get out of the training. There is a great excitement and happiness among the participants to be part of this programme as well as it being an opportunity to develop their IT skills. iMlango will shine a technological light on most of the schools that are situated in remote areas, where they would not usually be accustomed to such resources. It is a special gift to these schools, as one of the teacher’s explained to me, they never knew when this type of technology would reach them in the remote areas out of town as computers and other related technologies are more commonly found in towns.
Also, the training has given them another developing platform, opening their eyes to new technological experiences. Not only will this help them teach the school curriculum at a new interactive level but they also will be apply these skills in their day to day activities as society is also changing in accordance with technology. So this means iMlango will have a huge impact, not only for the students but also for the teachers and their communities.
Until next time,
The iMlango team