Over 50 youths in Nyahururu have benefited from a two-month digital literacy programme organised by Elimu Tech, a community-based organisation that helps the youth acquire computer skills.
The youths who have been training for four hours daily received certificates after the training held at the Nyahururu vocational training centre.
Speaking after the graduation event, Elimu Tech founder and CEO Kelvin Kinyanjui said that he thought of a way of helping the youths acquire hands-on experience in digital literacy skills to empower them to be able to commercialise their skills on the internet.
He said that the world is currently relying on everything digital, from booking hotels to applying for schools and he felt the need to train the youth as early as possible to ensure they are not left behind.
“Technology is the future and if we don’t align our youths with the future, we shall be doing them a great disservice. We need to see how we can help young people with skills we have so that they can commercialise them. Most of them spend a lot of time online and they can use that time to make money. We have trained them on search engine optimisation, programming, content creation and safe usage of the internet,” said Kinyanjui.
The graduating students applauded the course and the skills they acquired, saying that they were now better placed to monetize their time spent surfing the internet.
They said that they were now able to sell something online, create digital content to sell and also manage social media pages for some agencies and businesses.
Elimu Tech is a private entity that has partnered with the Ajira digital programme from the national government and the county Government of Laikipia through the Ministries of Youth and ICT, and it is aiming to ensure every youth in the county gets the required digital literacy skills before they venture into job markets or join colleges.
Elimu Tech has brought together a group of computer science graduates who have been training the youth on digital literacy skills and Artificial Intelligence.
By Antony Mwangi
