Computer skills are important – also on the savannah

13/11/2019

The Karen Blixen Camp Trust computer courses are very popular among local youth. A full-time Diploma course and computer classes for young children are among the future plans

The computer class has been part of the Karen Blixen Camp Trust Education Initiative since 2012, along with the Culinary Arts program, business, language, and basic reading and writing courses.

The computer classes are catered to the Culinary Arts students, the staff at Karen Blixen Camp, and the local community. So far, more than thirty students from the local community and an additional ten from the staff of Karen Blixen Camp have had their computer skills upgraded.

 “Most of the students we have from the local community have just completed their high school certificate and would like to attain at least a Computer Skills certificate before they advance their education,” tells Benedict Walubengo, headmaster of the educational activities of the Karen Blixen Camp Trust.

New computers important for the programs

The courses vary from Introduction to Computer, Cyber Security, to a Diploma in Programming. The timeframes for completion of courses  vary in length.The most popular course includes Microsoft Applications vis-a-vis Microsoft (MS) Word, MS Access, MS PowerPoint, and MS Excel.

“The Microsoft Application courses are quite popular as they are short”, tells Kelvin King´oo, computer teacher. These courses take 10 weeks to complete. They are very intensive with the classes starting at 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM every weekday and a half-day of class on Saturday. The Application course leads to a certificate from CSK (Computer Society of Kenya).

The Computer Society of Kenya is the accrediting examination institution for the computer course.  The examinations are delivered to the school from Nairobi and the proctors ensure that all parameters have been put in place for the examinations to be conducted smoothly and without any irregularities.

“We would not be able to run such courses without good computers, so we are very thankful for, and excited about, the first new computers that we recently received”, tells Mr. King`oo.

Many new plans

The team of teachers has many new plans for the computer classes.

A goal for future classes within the school is to enroll more students in Diploma courses, for which courses encompass approximately 18 months.

“This will make us the only institution in the Mara offering the Diploma in Information Technology, “IT”, which would be in addition to the short courses we currently can offer”, says Mr. King`oo with enthusiasm.

Headmaster Walubengo adds, “Working in partnership with the local school we plan to develop a simple curriculum for the young children in primary school around the Mararianta community where they can learn basic IT while they are young. This can be offered during their school break and the lessons will incorporate fun activities they can do while they learn to use a computer. This will spur a young generation to become curious and hungry to get information with the use of technology that is newly available.”