Kenya Education Network (KENET) launched the Schools Connectivity Initiative as an experiment to study the impact of broadband connectivity on schools administration, teachers, and student learning outcomes. 

KENET interviewed the administrators and teachers  on the impact of connectivity on the schools.

Teaching and learning

The internet has completely revolutionized the teaching and learning process at Alliance High School. It has helped the teachers diversify their teaching methods aside from the traditional method of teaching, they have now incorporated smart teaching methods using the internet.

“In the current times, the need for knowledge has gone a notch higher mostly in the academia world. The stable KENET network has greatly supported the streaming project in the school computer labs enabling students to view live content directly from the web using the six (6) smartboards. It has also enabled a number of sharing capabilities of the content to different smart boards by the staff. Biology and Kiswahili departments prepare digital content to deliver to the students.” said Mr Walter Ombiro, ICT Head at Alliance High School.

Smart board used by students when learning

The Internet has also aided research by being a source of basic resources which help back up the predefined syllabus to enable students to understand better through examples from  the web and live demonstrations of how it is done.

“The digital content prepared by the Biology department enables the Biology students to view 3D animations on the topics hence providing a better understanding of the content being taught.”  said Mr Ombiro.

The internet has also assisted students in researching, preparation, and participation in different student competitions in which they emerged at the top in the competition fairs. These include the International Mathematical Olympiad which is a mathematical Olympiad for pre-university students, Kenya Science and Engineering Fair, Kenya Young Science, Essay writings and Computing and Robotics Fair. The internet has also enabled the students to look up research papers online, print them and read them to increase their knowledge.

The Internet brings the world to the student, making the world a global village opening the mind of the student. This empowers the student to apply for post-secondary courses online. The students can apply to the universities they want to join, for example The Yale program.

“The internet has played a huge role in research and innovation among the students. Using the internet one of the students who was the former IT captain was able to conduct research on an operating system which can be used for schools specifically for students. The ICT club also uses the internet in programming, networking, and coding every Tuesday. When students are enabled using the internet, they become limitless in their pursuit of knowledge” said Mr Ombiro.

Students using the internet for better essay writing

The internet has supplemented the use of textbooks as reference books as it contains an endless source of knowledge and to research further readings on topics they cover in class. It has also made it easier for students to understand some complex concepts by simplifying them helping them to understand content better making the learning process more efficient.

“Through the use of internet in learning, students with different learning methods have been catered to. For example, students with photographic memory tend to remember and learn better through this method of teaching especially in Biology when watching YouTube demonstrations on the different systems in mammals,” said Mohamud Abdi, the IT & Links captain, Alliance High School.

Students using the internet to conduct research

School administration

The internet has transformed administration at Alliance High School. The internet enables transfer of exams and teaching materials from one point to another. It also helps in communication with the parents on what is happening at school through WhatsApp groups formed. The internet aids in maintaining track of the students through the biometric fingerprint system installed as students leave and come to school.

The internet serves as a link between the school and other stakeholders like Teachers Service Commission and the Ministry of Education both within the subcounty and county. Using the internet teachers can fill the Teachers Performance Appraisal and Development tool online enabling them to correspond to what is required by the Teachers Service Commission. The internet has also facilitated online Form Four registration of the KCSE examinations in real time.

In 2016, KENET partnered with  Bandwidth and Cloud Services (BCS) to connect both Alliance High School and Alliance Girls High School. This was achieved using last mile radio links from Presbyterian University of East Africa (PUEA) at a cost of KES 3,769,660.20 that included setting the radio links, access routers and UPSes, extension of 1Km campus fiber  at PUEA installation of solar powered inverters to back up the radio links and access routers. KENET has provided unlimited Internet bandwidth to the two schools since 2016. The Internet bandwidth consumption has been in the range 40 Mb/s to 60 Mb/s per school.

In the year 2013, KENET partnered with Wananchi to connect Nairobi schools using Zuku last mile fiber. As of 2015, KENET had connected 150 schools in Nairobi.