Kiambu, 30th August, 2019: GESCI in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Teachers Service Commission organized a 2-day workshop on Digital Schools of Distinction in Kiambu County. 20 secondary schools in Kiambu County  were awarded e-Confident status under the African Digital Schools Initiative (ADSI) programme being implemented in the County. The programme leads schools through 4 stages of whole school digitisation from e-Initial to e-Enabled to e-Confident and, finally, to e-Mature. When the participating schools reach e-Mature stage, they will be classified as Digital Schools of Distinction. The school principals received certification in recognition of their lead roles in supporting their teachers to utilise and integrate digital technologies  in their teaching. The programme has the enthusiastic support of the Kiambu county education authorities, the Teachers Service Commission as well as the schools’ boards of managements and parents’ associations.    The teachers in the 20 schools are following a rigorous ICT training programme and have already successfully completed the first two cycles - 1^st on Technology Literacy and 2^nd on Knowledge Deepening, currently the teachers have gone through the Knowledge Creation Cycle which is the third and last phase of the ADSI training. Teachers are now competent in incorporating various ICT tools in their teaching which will enrich student learning. Speaking at the event , Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Deputy Director Kiambu County Ms. Faith Kanana said that the commission and the ministry of education completely support ADSI.She mentioned that all teachers who excel through ADSI and are transferred will be traced and have the skills set acquired used in in-service of other teachers in the county. Ms. Victoria Mulili, County Director of Education, Kiambu encouraged the head teachers to leverage on the goodwill of parents to finance infrastructure.Ms. Mulili also talked about having a waiver for performing teachers when it comes to applying for jobs as Principals and Deputies in schools.She requested the Teachers Service Commission to look at ways to educate, motivate and reward teachers. Her remarks on sustainability were echoed by Dr. Maina, Deputy Secretary General of the Parents Association in Kiambu who said that ,   ‘Principals should not shy away from engaging parents to help them sustain the programme.Parents are the key school financiers.’ ADSI Programme Manager Senthil Kumar mentioned that the programme is used as a model in implementation of the  Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) and its success in Kenya play a huge role in seeing the goals achieved. On the way forward, GESCI CEO, Jerome Morrissey, emphasized the need to have young people graduate with sufficient skills to fit in a technologically evolving environment. Mr. Morrissey reminded the participants that the ADSI Pogramme seeks to transform the whole school way of functioning by integrating ICTs.On learners, he said "infuse skills, meet learning outcomes of the subjects they take."
A similar event takes place in Nyamira, Narok and Taita Taveta Counties where ADSI is being implemented. The African Digital Schools Initiative (ADSI) Programme is funded by Mastercard Foundation, Canada.