The Communications Authority of Kenya has announced an ambitious plan to connect 1,000 secondary schools with the internet by June 2017. The plan is part of the plans laid out in the utilization of the Universal Service Fund which so far collected Kshs. 3.94 Billion. The Universal Service Fund was established following the enactment of the Kenya Communications (Amendment) Act, 2009 seeking to promote access to ICT. The sources of the Fund include levies on licensees, appropriations from Government as well as grants and donations.
According to CA’s Director General Francis Wangusi, the authority is partnering with the Ministry of Education in pursuing the project. “The ministry of education has so far given us 894 schools and we are hoping to increase the number to 1,000 schools soon”, he said. Wangusi was speaking during the Global ICT Capacity Building Symposium held at the Safari Park Hotel.
The symposium seeks to bring together various industry players from across the world to deliberate on trends and developments in the sector and their effects for human and institutional capacity building. Wangusi says the authority has already procured services through lots for the delivery of the project.
On the issue of capacity building, the Communications Authority says it has been working on the building of internal skills within its ranks, industry skills, and consumer awareness. This has been mainly fostered through collaboration with the view of skills transfer while at the same time partnering with academia and private organizations to come up with the best practices for the same.
A major focus for the same has been in the area of education such as the program launched in collaboration with Liquid Telecom to connect all public library with internet access. Another area explored by the authority has also been in case studies which indentify gaps and work to build capacity to bridge these needs.
