‘Struggling’ school emerges top in national ICT contest

What does it take for a school struggling with electricity bills to compete and beat more established ones in a technology contest?

St Michael’s Primary School in Embu County says the desire to learn new things does it. 

It should know, for it was in the national limelight after it emerged top in an Information Communication Technology (ICT) integration in teaching and learning.

The school was the best overall in the contest that was organised by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).

It also produced the best teacher in mathematics category, Eunice Wambui Munene, who was also named the second best teacher in the ICT integration contest.

Wincate Mukami emerged second best in English as the institution produced the third best teacher in Kiswahili, Caroline Njue.

The three were among the more than 2,000 teachers from across the country who entered the contest in June last year.

For their win, they were each awarded a laptop, a printer and gift vouchers. Ms Munene took home Sh20,000, Ms Mukami Sh10,000 and Ms Njue Sh2,500.

Pleasant surprise

The contest attracted 2,825 submissions from 722 schools. Mariangu Primary School in Kilifi County emerged the second best countrwide and produced the best teacher in science. 

For emerging top countrywide, the school was awarded a desktop computer and a printer.

Entrants were required to submit videos of themselves teaching by use of digital tablets.

The winning teachers say their victory came as a pleasant surprise for them and has encourage them to redoubled their passion for teaching.

The joyous teachers, who were accorded a heroines’ welcome by the school board, parents and pupils, could hardly hide their excitement as they cited the institution’s “very supportive system” for the win.

Ms Munene said they would never have won without the support of head teacher Francis Njagi, colleagues, parents and the pupils who she said have interest and desire to learn how to use computers.

“When we take them to the computer room, you can see their deep interest to learn digitally. This makes learning easier and interesting for them. It also has a motivational effect on the teacher. I always look forward to the next lesson,” she says.

Since digital learning was introduced at the school, the pupils’ interest in learning computer skills has grown.

“The pupils are not being pushed to learn. When it’s time for computer based lessons, they do not waste time but head to the room straight away,” says Ms Munene.

Teaching ICT is however not always smooth as the teachers grapple with technical hitches.

“At times, a pupil tries to switch on the gadget but it does not power on. Sometimes, the gadget might be fully charged but after using it for five minutes, it shuts down and cannot power up again. We have asked the technical support team for assistance,” says Ms Njue.

Connectivity to the internet is also a problem, according to the teachers, as they are at times unable to access the desired material from the KICD portal.

The teachers who wished the school had internet connection, recounted the difficulties they faced uploading videos for the contest.

Head teacher Njagi described the three winners as all rounded and dedicated professionals who are very patient with the pupils.

Overall winner

“The three deserved the win. Even though we did not expect to become the overall winner, we knew we would get somewhere,” he said.

Njagi expects the win to improve the school’s academic performance.

Besides the tablets that the government pioneered through the laptop for schools programme, St Michael Primary has also started computer studies for pupils in class four to eight.

jmuchiri@standardmedia.co.ke