Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, has announced that he would expand the country’s primary and secondary school curricula to include coding as a subject. The announcement was made at the State House in Nairobi.
In light of this recent development, Kenya has become the first nation in Africa to allow kindergarten and first-grade students to learn how to code.
President Uhuru Kenyatta said at the event, “I thank the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development for leading our country to this historic achievement by making coding a basic skill in our new competency-based curriculum.”
In addition, the President of Kenya unveiled the National Cybersecurity Strategy 2022. This plan outlines strategic actions that will be implemented to address national cybersecurity concerns in Kenya. Also, the Kenya National Digital Master Plan was made public and will be used until 2032.
Kenya is the first country in the world to formally adopt a coding curriculum that will be taught in primary and secondary schools.
Kodris is an online learning platform developed specifically to instruct elementary and high school kids in the fundamentals of computer programming.
Teachers and students are the two categories of users that make up this platform, respectively. Users registered as students are led to scenarios in which they are required to complete programming-related activities using the Python programming language.
Read: South Africa to Add Robotics And Coding to School Curriculum
What is Kodris?
Kodris Africa, an online publishing company that teaches students how to code, was a collaborator in creating the curricular materials. Young people will benefit from the inclusion of hands-on lessons in the curriculum, which will assist them in the development of their ability to solve problems.
“Adding coding to the school curriculum will enhance students’ technological skills and put them on the scope in the ever-growing world of technology,” explains Kodris Africa CEO Mugumo Munene. “
Adding coding to the school curriculum will put students on the right track in the ever-growing world of technology.”
Mucheru is quoted as saying, “the world is changing, and everyone is going digital, and Kenya will not be left behind as the globe goes digital.”
The Director of Criminal Investigations, George Kinoti, believes that it is essential to teach youngsters information technology skills since, in today’s world, everyone uses information technology, including criminals. “It is of the utmost importance to teach our children how to use information technology in school because, in today’s society, even law enforcement officers need to have a solid understanding of computer technologies to combat criminals who are smart in this area.”
He said that technology makes it possible for law enforcement to fight crime in real-time and stay ahead of criminals.
On April 19, 2022, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) gave the curricular plans their stamp of approval. The construction of those curricula is in keeping with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Digital Literacy Program (which was introduced in 2016), as well as the National Digital Master Plan (2022–2032), which allows for an improvement in the level of digital skills found throughout the country.
During that period, Chief Executive Officer Mugumo Munene had already mentioned that it would be highly beneficial for kids to learn how to code. “Rather than only consuming what is made by others.
Kids who learn to code can become creators in this digital age,” he added. “This is very important in the 21st century.”
The Motives for Coding in Schools
The president, whose term will end in a few weeks, is hopeful about the influence of the National Digital Master Plan on the country due to all of these digital rollouts. He is sure that the plan will put the country at the forefront of information and communications technology (ICT) by encouraging the growth of ICT-related businesses and creating a policy, legal, and regulatory framework that makes it easy for more people to use e-governance.
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President Kenyatta said this would help create more employment, enable and scale up ICT innovation, and establish a vibrant and robust ICT industry that will help other sections of our economy. “There is no doubt that this will help create more jobs.”
The master plan will also help investors decide where to put their money.
The digital master plan’s objective is to establish over 20,000 digital centres across the country’s rural communities, and this is the plan’s primary focus. Because of this, the government will be able to hire an additional 40,000 young people directly to work in the centres and instruct individuals who show interest.
Kenya has managed to keep its position as one of the most active centres for technological innovation on the African continent. This new effort demonstrates an ambition to redefine education and a solid determination to establish a future for the next generation. And it would appear that the public sector, as well as the commercial sector, are on board with this objective. In this single year alone, Microsoft, Visa, and Google have all opened their first research and development centres in the nation’s capital.
