iMlango phase one draws to an end

During this year’s first term a total of 23,574 new pupils were registered into the programme with the majority coming from schools near iMlango schools. 

As we move into the new term, we plan to hold meetings with county officials in Makueni County to provide an update on the programme, and to discuss transition arrangements as iMlango phase one draws to an end. 

iMlango Junior Debaters Contest: UPdate

The first round of the iMlango Junior Debaters Contest – Competition two is progressing well, where groups were set the motion:

‘Sickness is the biggest factor which makes pupils absent from school. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.’

We’re pleased to inform you that more students engaged with the contest this time round, with a total of 515 groups submitting an answer compared with 452 for the first round of competition one – an increase of 14 per cent.

The team with the highest score in this round were ‘Ronaldo’ who scored an impressive 82 per cent. 

Triple helix summit

We were honored take part in the International Triple Helix Summit that took place on 4-6 April in Nairobi.

The Triple Helix Summit aimed to catalyse the overall attainment of the SDGs. The scale and ambition of the SDGs requires a paradigm shift in Global Partnership to ensure their achievement. The Summit proposed the use of a Quadra Helix approach that incorporates Governments, the private sector, Civil Society and the Academia in exploring the use of ICT and Data in accelerating the attainment of SDGs

It was great to attend the prestigious event which gave us a platform to share iMlango's story and impact. 

Elsewhere in the programme, we are busy working with an external evaluator to compile the iMlango evaluation endline report for phase one of the programme, and we hope to share the report and some fascinating insights with you soon. 

Until next time,

The iMlango Team

UK’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson visits Kenya

We were delighted to be invited to a reception on Friday 17th March, with the UK’s Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson. The reception took place at the High Commissioner’s residence in Nairobi, where our Kenyan team briefed Mr Johnson on how our technology helps to improve education outcomes for marginalised children in rural Kenyan schools.

Photo credit: UK in Kenya

And the winner of the inaugural iMlango Junior Debaters Contest is…

We’re delighted to announce that the winners of the inaugural iMlango Junior Debaters Contest is the aptly named team, Champions.

For the third and final round of competition one, the remaining 10 groups were set the motion: ‘Some people think girls drop out of school more than boys. Do you agree or disagree? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.’

Champions, a group from Kibaokiche primary school, agreed with the motion and supported their stance with convincing points; citing household work, a lack of clean water, lack of proper sanitation and parental bias as reasons why girls drop out of schools more than boys.

Their answer achieved an overall mark of 70 per cent, narrowly beating Team Zion in second place, who achieved a score of 65 per cent. In third place were the winners of the previous round, Team Lion, who achieved 60 per cent.

We’d like to thank all of the teams for participating, and salute their hard work which resulted in the many high-level responses that we received for this first competition. Make sure to keep an eye out for next month’s update, as it will include pictures of the top teams receiving their prizes!

Elsewhere in the programme, students can now access new KICD approved, multi-subject content and digital revision guides on the learning platform, which has been provided by our education partner, Longhorn Publishers.

As a token of our appreciation, we presented teachers with new iMlango branded polo shirts to say thank you for their support over the past two years – and we thought it would be appropriate to end this month’s update with a message from one of those teachers, Onesmus Kimeu, deputy head teacher of Utithini primary school in Makueni County, who said:

"iMlango admins, facilitators, participants and schools, I wish to most sincerely thank iMlango internet-enabled teaching and learning. I spent a short time with this powerful, selfless organisation; the only organisation that has practiced equity in its true meaning. ASANTE SANA iMlango.’’

Until next time,
The iMlango team