Makueni County has launched the ECDE Digital Learning programme for Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) learners in the area.
Speaking during the launch and commissioning of a model ECDE classroom at St. John’s Malivani Primary School, First Lady Anita Mutula assured parents that the devices being used by their children were safe and they should not worry that their children will access adult content.
“The model classroom we have launched will be replicated in all ECDE centres across the county,” she said.
She asked teachers to take care of the devices adding that in partnership with EIDU and the county Department of ICT, Education and Internship, they will donate more without forgetting the disabled.
“The screen time is only seven minutes so they will not spend a lot of their time operating the device. The world has completely changed, so by the time they are grown, they will be experts on such technology,” she added.
County Secretary Dr. Justin Kyambi called on parents and teachers to train their children to be tech savvy saying that the digital space contained a lot of employment opportunities.
State Department of ICT Administration Secretary Abdinasir Jabane said that the young ones should be given access to learn and train on digital skills.
“Our devices are safe in terms of data protection and safety. However, kindly be vigilant about the content they access at home using your devices,” he reiterated.
ICT, Education and Internship CECM Elizabeth Muli thanked EIDU for the partnership adding that she is looking forward to more engagements.
“In the last month, 35,574 learners have been registered for this programme, 2,199 devices have been issued to ECDE centres, 2,125 ECDE teachers have been invited for digital learning programme and 74 County ECDE Officers have been trained on the programme,” she said.
EIDU Operations and Training Director Henry Were said that the company is supporting 6 counties; Kiambu, Mombasa, Embu, Murang’a, Machakos and Makueni on digital learning with a total of 330,000 learners reached so far.
“With the help of KICD, we have mapped all the lessons for the learners. Every stream will have one device and teachers will be able to register learners’ accounts,” he said.
MCAs present led by Felix Mateso called for empowerment of ECDE teachers by raising their salaries, adding that the County Assembly was pushing for permanent employment of these teachers.
Also in attendance was the Wajir County First Lady Rukia Abdinasir.
By Lydia Ngoolo
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