90,000 KEWOTA Teachers to Get Sh70,00 Laptops

Female teachers in Kenya now have greater access to digital services, including their pay slips, teaching content, and filing tax returns, thanks to a new laptop programme launched on February 25th.

The laptops project is part of the Tuinuane Dada initiative, which also includes personal accident cover and soft loans for female teachers.

The initiative is being spearheaded by the Kenya Women Teachers Association (KEWOTA), which has negotiated the laptop programme for its 90,000 members.

The association’s CEO, Benta Opande, said that the laptops will cost Sh70,000 but can be paid off in instalments of between Sh1,080 and Sh2,500 over 36 months.

Primary school teachers’ laptops will be different from those used by secondary school and teacher training college teachers.

The laptops will have curriculum designs from nursery to secondary schools, and they will include some 104 digitised books that members can use to teach. They will also have a solar port, allowing teachers to recharge them using solar energy.

Additionally, the programme will offer insurance coverage for personal and motor accidents, which Opande says is necessary as the insurance provided by the government does not cover these areas.

Only KEWOTA members will be able to access these services through a unique membership number. If a laptop is stolen and reported, it will be switched off and rendered unusable.

Opande emphasised that the services are only available to KEWOTA members, but the association is working to reach 230,000 female teachers across the country. Non-members will be able to access the contents of the laptops for a fee.

The CEO also said that the laptops will make it easier for teachers to do their work and manage paperwork in their daily activities. She urged Kenya to embrace the digital world in education, noting that this would go a long way in solving teachers’ challenges.

Kahi Indimuli, the national chairman of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association, said the initiative would make teaching easier.

He noted that during the Covid-19 pandemic, learning was conducted through mobile phones, but these gadgets were banned in institutions when learning resumed.

With the laptops, students will be able to learn using technology while avoiding the distractions of phones.

KEWOTA has partnered with the House of Procurement (HOP), associated with the Estonian Consulate, to provide digital programmes.

Kadri Humal, the CEO of the Estonian Consulate, said her organisation had offered capacity building to publishers to digitalise interactive content and make it available on OPiQ.

She urged all publishers to come on board since it provides an opportunity for capacity building for the digitalisation of content. She said teachers would have a lot of liberty in how they teach provided they arrive at the desired learning outcome.

90,000 KEWOTA Teachers to Get Sh70,00 Laptops