iMlango Microloans - empowering women in our school communities
Women in general undoubtedly face greater financial constraints than men, but when empowered with a loan, the businesses they set up tend to thrive. Women who are economically enabled are more likely to send their children to school, with profits from their business being used to pay household bills and help pay for school-related costs, such as uniform.
Since making Microloans available to select iMlango school communities, we have seen more women access the service than men. This is good news for our girl students, as they are seeing female empowerment first hand at home and learning the valuable skills of money-management.
37 secondary schools and over 12,000 students now part of iMlango
This year has seen the addition of secondary schools to the iMlango programme, with 37 schools online with attendance monitoring and the learning platform. Across the four counties, 5,530 Form 1, and 6,968 Form 2 students are now on roll, with the collection of transition data from iMlango primary schools under way.
The students are currently exploring and enjoying boosting their general knowledge using the Q-Files encyclopaedia resources on the iMlango portal at lunchtime and after school clubs.
Leading the way in Kenya…
Back in March, representatives of the Ministry of Education met with iMlango programme partners and shared their plans and objectives for the coming period. In the fore was the recommendation that our education offering should reflect the new Competency Based Curriculum (CBC). There has been uncertainty surrounding the CBC for some time, but the recent appointment of George Magoha as Cabinet Secretary of Education, with his background in this field, has been met with great optimism.
Digital literacy is one of the key competences outlined in the new CBC, while the Government's national ICT policy agenda is to fully integrate ICT into teaching and learning in all education levels. Additionally, the Kenyan government announced its plans of advancing learning outcomes country-wide through ICT by building computer labs in all public schools.
Our iMlango schools are ahead of the game here! The programme is already driving forward the Government’s plans in the Education sector, building digital literacy skills for students by using computers in classrooms and labs to develop important ICT skills, including typing and research skills with Q-Files children’s encyclopedia, and maths development via the Maths Whizz virtual tutor.
Until next time,
The iMlango Team