African News Agency : Welcome

Nairobi, 19 Sep - (ANA) - Eighteen digital hubs for Kenyan primary schools, allowing pupils access to computers and the internet, have been officially launched. Funded by the British council and Microsoft, they are intended to serve more than 100 schools. Given the numbers, they seem like a drop in the ocean, but the scheme is a significant step for Kenya's state education sector, she says. Kenya's 639 state primary schools are often overcrowded, with up to 1,000 pupils at each institution, correspondents say. The hub at the Kilimani School in the capital, Nairobi, will be serving five schools altogether - and sessions will be timetabled. Each desktop computer is loaded with Microsoft's Encarta reference encyclopaedia. The digital hubs now also have full and free internet access following a three-year deal with telecoms giant Bharti Airtel, the British Council said. They have been built over the last year and during that time, some 2,000 teachers have been trained in IT skills, it said. Kilimani's headmaster Gideon Wasike said there has already been a positive effect on students since the pilot hub had opened in August 2012. (ANA)