By Charles Kanjama
At the end of my primary education, my ambition was to top my primary school in the final examinations. When the results were released, I was disappointed to come second, but happy to qualify for a top national school, and to get admitted into a top private school. So I had to make the first significant choice in my academic career. However, the pleasure that comes with the power of choice meant that I was actually in no hurry to decide. So my father took matters into his own hands and advised me to choose the national school. He explained that I had spent eight years in school with that goal in mind, and my teachers, too, had the same goal, so it would not make sense to opt out. Also, the national school would be economical and a useful learning experience. I agreed.
Some days later, my parents met the private-school principal who offered full scholarship if I joined that institution. My father then spoke to me and referred to an English saying, actually a Spanish proverb, which I’d not heard before, and which has stayed with me since. He said: “A wise man changes his mind, a fool never.” He advised that I shift course and opt for the private school, which I did. I never regretted the choice. That Spanish proverb has become necessary for the Jubilee coalition leaders who have opted to move full steam ahead with their promise of ‘free laptops for every class one child’. We understand their commitment to fulfil all their promises. We know full well that once you start rationalising one unfulfilled promise, you soon start to rationalise all unfulfilled promises.
Yet, speaking for myself, I hope Jubilee listens to the experts and waive this one promise while committing even stronger to all other promises they made. True, ‘the experts’ did not believe that former President Kibaki’s promise of free tuition in primary schools would come to pass, yet it did. And Kibaki’s commitment to that promise transformed Kenya. So the Jubilee coalition leaders should not pay too much attention to naysayers who don’t appreciate their commitment to digital transformation.
Yet the issue here is this: What is the best way of achieving the digital transformation of education in Kenya? I write as an alumnus of an institution that provides a digital tablet to every first-year law student, and as a person who enjoyed computer classes in high school. I also write as a person who spent some years in college training in information systems, and working as a programmer and instructor.
My view is that Jubilee does not have the luxury of a 15-year digital education plan, which is what giving laptops to Standard-One students would mean at best. They need to digitally transform education in four years, and make Kenya the African hub in information and communication technology within another five years if they get the chance. This can only be achieved if they shift the locus of free laptops to first-year university students, and then to Form-One students.
This should go hand-in-hand with access to computer labs for all secondary and university students, so that no student misses out on the digital revolution as they wait for laptops. Let primary students focus on numeracy, writing and comprehension skills. True, the One-Laptop-per-Child project for primary students is being implemented in Rwanda, and fully in Peru and Uruguay. But studies have shown that it has not attained its objectives for various reasons, and easily ends up as a costly vanity project.
After coming second on other occasions, I learnt to wear ‘second-best’ as a badge of honour. I learnt that I can achieve my greatest goals by aiming higher, not minding to fall short of the greater goal if I still attain the original goal. In other words, “aim for the sun to reach the moon”, which is the universal standard of idealism. Also, “aim for the moon and you’ll reach the stars”, which is the age-old standard of pragmatism.
If the Jubilee leaders are wise and humble enough to adjust their digital destination, not minding to accept ‘second-best’ for their digital promise, the subsequent digital transformation of Kenya will become one of their greatest legacies.
