A certificate in computer application in getting government jobs may soon be replaced by certificate of digital literacy if a bill proposed by Nominated Senator Karen Nyamu will be anything to go by.
A copy of the Digital Literacy Bill, 2023, obtained by safinews.co.ke indicated that Nyamu has been concerned with the amount of money spent by the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology [ICT] on digital training.
In order to apply austerity measures in government, Nyamu wants digital training to be incorporated into the curriculum and certification offered.
Currently, every government ministry is spending huge amounts of money in offering Digital training to their workforce in order to equip them with digital skills,” read the statement in part.
“The Bill proposes that we incorporate the digital training in our education curriculum and also make it a requirement for new entrants to public service to have basic digital certification.” She advocated for the decentralisation of digital programmes by the formation of the Digital Literacy Committee.
The committee will consist of County Executive Committee (CECs) members in charge of ICT from counties who will be tasked with advising the CS and the National government in regard to the ICT policy.
the changes, Nyamu noted digital literacy will be boosted in line with President William Ruto’s goal of digitising his government.
So far, 5,000 government services have been digitised and over 1,000 pay bills collapsed to harness state payments to one pay bill and curb corruption.
According to the Communication Authority of Kenya, 94% of Kenyan population were covered by the 4G network by 2021 yet only 44% of urban population and 17 per cent in rural areas having access to the internet.
“The huge number of citizens lack basic digital skills yet they should be consumers of digital government services thus risk missing the benefits of efficiency that comes with digitization,” added the bill.
The Bill proposes establishment of Community Digital Hubs in every county to facilitate digital trainings to communities. The Bill also provides that county governments come up with programs to recruit youths as Digital Literacy Cohorts to provide trainings to communities at the grassroot levels.”