A group of form four leavers in Meru County have graduated with basic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills, courtesy of Meru County Library and its partners.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony, Meru County Librarian Richard Wanjohi told journalists that the group of 28 learners had undergone a six-week training and are now fully equipped with the necessary skills to join institutions of higher learning.
He said the Meru library started the programme about five years ago and has trained at least 450 form four leavers helping them to cope with the technological world in their next levels of learning.
“We discovered that the majority of form four leavers usually do not have ICT skills when they leave their secondary schools and this motivated us to start ICT sessions which we do every year,” said Wanjohi.
Apart from the ICT skills, Wanjohi added that that they have also partnered with institutions like Kenya Methodist University (KEMU) and Equity Afia whose professionals mentor the learners on career progressions as well as mental health respectively.
“Apart from training the learners on the basic ICT skills, as an informational institution, we call resource people to talk to them because we want them to be all-rounders. We want them to understand issues to avoid culture shocks when they get to higher institutions of learning,” said Wanjohi.
He added that they would be having a similar class in the next two weeks calling on more form four leavers to get on board.
Ms Christine Kendi from KEMU thanked the library for coming up with such a noble initiative adding that students who lacked such skills usually faced hard times when they joined them at the institution.
“Majority of form four leavers do not know where to head to after secondary schools and therefore Meru library is doing a good job in advising them on the right career choices,” said Ms Kendi.
He said KEMU would in the future partner with the library to help their students expand their learning.
By Dickson Mwiti
