Addressing the device and infrastructure gap for STEM and ICT learning
Raspberry Pi is a series of single-board computers made by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a charity in UK that aims to improve young people’s potential through education and access to available computing.
The original board was released in 2012 and different versions have been released since then with varying computing capacities for different applications. The boards run on Linux operating system and have been provided with general purpose input/output pins that allows connection of sensor and other electronic components for use.
During their visit to Kenya, the CEO and Co-founder of Raspberry Pi Foundation Eben Upton and the Managing Director, Education Products Sian Harris were hosted by Liquid Intelligent Technologies at the Nairobi Garage on Tuesday 25th October 2022 to meet a community of educators who use raspberry pi platform to provide digital skills to learners in Kenya.
A panel discussion was held to discuss the need for affordable and suitable devices, connectivity, learning content/curriculum. The panel was comprised of professionals who are actively working to increase accessibility of digital content, to build local infrastructure for innovation, to connect learning hubs, to approve and publish digital content, as well as creating hands on devices for use in STEM education. They included:
- Derrick Mugasia – IOMe005 Hub (Kenya Red Cross Society)
- David Butitta – Centre for ICT Integration
- Twahir Hussain – Lamuka Hub
- Kiko Muo – Angaza Elimu
- Vanessa Inziani – Young Scientists Kenya
The panel was moderated by Ben Roberts, the Group Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Liquid Intelligent Technologies. For Kenya Red Cross Society, Derrick discussed the collaborative project being done with Delft University of Technology to design and fabricate 3D printed Digital Microscopes for schools in marginalized and low resource setting powered by Raspberry Pi Zero.
In the event attended by the Ministry of Education, private sector, educators and innovators, challenges encountered in proving access to quality education and Education technology in Kenya were discussed. Curriculum developers were also urged to involve stakeholders in the technology space in the design of school education plans and materials to enable integration of technological trends that learners need to be prepared for such as programming and proper use of the internet.
In his address, the Raspberry Pi CEO announced his plans to partner with Gearbox and start the production of some the Raspberry Pi boards (Raspberry Pico and Pico Wireless) in Kenya. This would improve access to the boards at an affordable price for most learners to be educated about computing at an early stage. The move will also improve innovation and prototyping in the country allowing the young entrepreneurs to conduct technological experiments at a manageable cost.
Liquid Intelligent Technologies will be the official Kenyan distributor of the Raspberry Pi boards in order to regulate the price at which the boards are being sold in the market. Through government support, they are also planning to distribute the Raspberry Pi Kits to different schools across the country where they have already provided internet connectivity.
