Companies
KCB and Kodris deal to boost programming
Thursday December 08 2022
KCB Branch in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG
KCB Group has joined the fray for computer programming in schools after signing a funding deal for online tutorials.
The lender, Kenya’s second largest by market share, has entered into a deal with online publishing firm Kodris Africa, enabling parents to enrol children on a credit plan with a monthly repayment of Sh822 which represents a 50 discount from the standard rates.
READ: ICT agency, tech firm in deal for schools coding lessons
Kenya’s giant telco, Safaricom, as well as US tech titans such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google are some of the big corporates, which have already entered the fledgling coding space in schools.
Coding, which is also known as programming, involves translating human intentions into commands that can be understood by computers.
The scramble for the spoils follows the approval of the coding initiative by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development as the government moves to boost digital literacy for learners.
KCB announcement came after Safaricom in July allowed customers to buy tokens for coding lessons on M-Pesa and activate them on a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer for their children.
“We are committed to supporting digital education in the country because that is how we will build the human capital to take full advantage of the opportunities available in the 21st-Century job market,” KCB Group chief executive Paul Russo said in a statement yesterday.
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“When our children learn and master coding, they will become useful builders of the national and global digital economy.”
Digital literacy is a key plank of the competency-based curriculum that has been rolled out in Grade Six, the final level of the primary school cycle.