Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo said that the government will open the Kenya National Open University by September.
Speaking when presenting a report on the One-Year Status Report of the Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy. Owalo said the virtual university aims to enhance access to affordable university education.
“Once the institution becomes functional, it will make university education more affordable, accessible, and attainable to all students, no matter their location or income levels,” he said.
Further, he said plans were also at an advanced stage to operationalize the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kenya-AIST) at Konza Technopolis.
According to him, the school, which is now under construction and is expected to open this year, will be given a national strategic ICT-oriented mission to provide postgraduate degrees in cutting-edge science and technology.
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Owalo stated that the Ministry intends to provide the training facilities with 23,000 digital devices, working with Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions. She also noted that 112 institutions have already received 8,159 digital devices.
According to the CS, as of July 31st this year, 6,700 virtual desktops had been distributed to 77 Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions.
Four universities had received 400; one community centre, twenty-one schools, and 100 each; eight ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs); and one county government had received 100 and five virtual desktops, respectively.
He claimed that the Ministry had connected 109,000 young people from the Ajira project to digital jobs, including BPO firms with headquarters in Ndhiwa, Mbeere, Kirinyaga, Central, Mombasa, and Nairobi.
“We have equally trained a total of 336,000 youth on digital jobs, under the Ajira Digital Programme and formed and institutionalised 74 Ajira digital clubs, which are sustainable platforms,” he said.
