The Ministry of Education is set to hold a consultative forum virtually, on online learning in conjunction with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) among other stake holders – By Prudence Wanza.
Chief Administrative Secretary Ministry of Education, Mumina Bonaya will be the guest speaker at the forum.
The discussions will look into forging the way forward in regards to Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) online learning while schools remain closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic that has hit the world.
Panelists in the forum will include; Dr. Tom Okaya TSC Sub-County Director and online STEM learning Coordinator, Dr. Reuben Nthamburi TSC Director for Quality Assurance and Standards, Mr Alfred Indimuli Chair, KESSHA and Chief Principal, Eng.Mike Mutungi Choose Life Africa, Dr. Kagonya Awori and Mr. Nicholas Muasya the Principal Nguviu Boys High School in Embu.
TSC Sub-County Director, Dr.Tom Okaya has been coordinating online learning in Murang’a County and other areas and so far they have been able to reach almost 3,000 students.
He revealed that the move was inspired by the need to have students continue learning despite the current global crisis and initially started the lessons in WhatsApp which he said was expensive with minimum interaction.
“WhatsApp is expensive with minimum learner and teacher interaction which makes it difficult to deliver science lessons properly,” he said.
Dr. Okaya revealed they have moved other platforms such as Zoom and google with more than 100 teachers volunteering to teach 3-2 lessons a day.
“The government should come in and earnest what we already have to grow the program further,” he stated.
He also encouraged more teachers to volunteer to the exercise in order to reach as many learners as possible.
