Learners in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions will soon begin enrolling in coding lessons after President William Ruto said coding will be part of the school curriculum going forward.
Speaking yesterday evening during the Jamhuri Innovation and Tech Summit at the Kenya International Convention Center in Nairobi, president Ruto said the entire tech ecosystem will become part of Kenya’s curriculum from elementary school to university.
The president said by teaching learners problem-solving skills early, through coding, they are better prepared for the contemporary world job market.
“This is to ensure that the entire tech ecosystem becomes part of our curriculum from elementary school to university. This fifth Jamhuri is dedicated to innovation and technology as Kenya must no longer underestimate the power of innovation and technology. Because of this, we need to know how to grow our technology from primary school. You have heard about coding that is now going to be part of our curriculum to ensure technology becomes part of our journey from primary school all the way to university.” The president said.
On his part, Safaricom PLC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ndegwa said they have partnered with Kodris Africa to help schools entrench digital skills in their learning.
“The future is about seeking skills that help young people find relevant jobs. As Safaricom, we have joined others to create an industry-wide digital program to help schools and partners like Kodris Africa focus on coding. We also provide an ecosystem to enhance these skills. For example, in the M-Pesa ecosystem, we have over 52,000 developers working on this system and that is job creation.” Ndegwa said.
In April this year, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development approved the pioneer coding syllabus in the country offered by Education Technologies firm, Kodris Africa.
Effectively, this becomes the first coding syllabus online platform for children of ages 7-16 to develop their critical thinking and algorithm in building skills while learning the robust programming language python.
To meet international standards, Kodris Africa syllabus is also Pearson approved.
KICD evaluates vets and approves the curricular and curriculum support materials for basic and tertiary education.
Ndegwa added that Safaricom is helping young people monetise the content, adding that the country and the tech industry must help them gain the capacity to find those opportunities.
The president said that Konza will supply 20,000 computers to ensure students in our TVETs have the opportunity to use the space.
Meanwhile, Ruto revealed that the government is in the final stages of setting up a startup fund to help tech companies grow.
“Alongside the Hustler Fund, we will have a startup fund. The preparatory work is done and shortly we will present the bill to Parliament so that we can make all start-ups risk-free and ensure they are supported,” President Ruto said.
He added: “We will create a legal framework that supports tech start-ups to advance their ideas and innovations.
He also noted that by February next year there will be the second edition of the Hustler Fund, which will give small businesses access to capital.
The President announced that he will meet Meta’s leadership in the United States to help Kenyans unlock monetization opportunities from its platforms, including Facebook.
He added: “I had an open discussion and we tried to solve the challenges from monetization to getting remote jobs. We’ve also had conversations about expanding our tech skills now that coding is part of the curriculum.
He announced that Thunderbird University will be offering free digital courses in partnership with Arizona State University and that the 16-unit course, which costs $1,000, had already been paid for.
“These are opportunities that we are looking for with Mastercard, Microsoft, Google, Visa and other technology companies as it will open up opportunities for young Kenyans,” he added.
