• It will facilitate ICT use and access in the rural areas.
• Availability of internet in most rural areas is far-fetched.
• The move will help open up rural areas.

Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Technology says government’s plans to connect internet to 1, 200 Secondary Schools will facilitate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use among learners.

Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Committee Chairperson Twambo Mutinta said once actualized, the move will help open up rural areas and also help to prepare young people that are ready to integrate in the global society.

Mr. Mutinta noted that availability of internet in most rural areas is far-fetched, hence the Committee fully supports government’s agenda of digital transformation.

“The announcement by government to want to connect about 1, 200 schools with internet is something which is commendable. We live in a global society where times and seasons have kept on changing, and where we need to embrace technology.”

“If government actualizes this, we strongly feel it will facilitate ICT use and access in these rural areas and it will bring a lot of awareness of the wider world by the learners in most of these schools,” Mr. Mutinta observed.

He added that internet availability will not only bring benefits to the schools but also connect the communities to access facilities such as Constituency Development Fund (CDF) applications and be able to transact as well as operate in a global economy.

Mr. Mutinta however said according to officials from Ministry of Education, Government might not only connect the targeted 1, 200 schools but will cover all the schools, because most of them do not have reliable internet.

“We strongly feel this will be something in the right step. We wish and hope that most rural areas will be the key targets for this initiative so that we open the rural areas to the global world. They might not do the 1, 200 but will do all the schools, because even some of the schools that are not part of the 1, 200 do not have reliable internet. So the intention is to put in all the schools so that they have reliable internet,” he added.
Recently, Minister of Technology and Science Felix Mutati announced government’s intention to connect all Public Secondary Schools to internet, adding that data from 1, 200 Secondary Schools had been collected by Ministry of Education.