A team from the University’s @ilabAfrica research institute held a workshop on ICTs for girls and teachers in Kitui County on January 18th and 19th 2012. The workshop was themed the girl effect and was supported by the Global giving charity.

GlobalGiving is a charity fundraising web site that gives social entrepreneurs and non-profits from anywhere in the world a chance to raise funds to improve their communities.

The workshops were held at St. Columbas Vocational Centre in Mutune, Kitui The workshop’s objective was to sensitize rural girls and their teachers on the importance of ICTs in their day to day life. Here are some highlights of the two-day workshop:

Day 1: Students workshop.
@ilab team arrived at mid-day at St Colombas Vocational Centre. Although it was nearly lunch time, the girls were eager to listen to what the team had prepared for them.

To set the tone of the day, the students were first shown a video clip of prisoners performing as a dance group. This was to show them that their arid environment with little resources should not hinder their human development. All they need to do is be focused and positive towards life.

After lunch, the students were taken to the computer laboratory at the centre. They were taught computer basics. Most of them had never touched a computer and were simply awed!

After a 3-hour session, an interview was conducted with some of the girls who said that the @iLabAfrica team had truly changed their perception about computers. They requested to have more such sessions so that they could learn more.

Day 2: Head teachers workshop

The head teachers’ workshop was more interactive. Dr Evelyn Makhanu, who led the workshop explained to them how ICTs can save on operational costs in running their schools.  She also explained the importance of the internet in education and how it would save on both time and money as well as enable the teachers to teach effectively.

The head teachers discussed why most of them had not taken up ICT and 98% of them said that it was due to ignorance and lack of time. One of them said that he had never met someone to tell him the benefits of using ICT.

With the knowledge from the workshop, they said that their attitude had changed and they would do their best to embrace ICT.

The head teachers then attended a lab session where they were encouraged to integrate technology in the delivery of course work material. There was a demonstration of how to use You Tube and how this could be used to show experiments especially in the schools which lacked laboratory resources.

The head teachers also created Gmail accounts that they would be using to communicate with each other. They were also shown how they can use the internet to solicit grants.

These grants could help them build their schools and acquire resources such as computers. They can also use the internet to look for scholarships for needy students in their schools to add to the bursary funds from the government.

After the sessions, the head teachers showed interest to learn more about computers. They expressed gratitude in the way they were taught as they found it very easy to understand. Their attitude towards ICT had changed and most of them expressed a desire to continue with the trainings.

The @ilab team enjoyed the outing thoroughly, despite the fact that Kitui is very hot. The team especially liked the sweet mangoes that were in plenty.

You can also contribute to this worthy cause and help the @iLabAfrica team to visit more schools and reach more girls in rural Kenyato educate them on importance of ICT. To make a donation visit  http://www.globalgiving.org/ for more information. Your support will be highly appreciated.