Highway Africa News Agency (Grahamstown)
Joyce Joan Wangui
5 November 2007
Nairobi — As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), British Airways is to invest 100, 000 pounds (Sh13.5 million) to assist four rural schools of Kenya to establish Information Technology centres.
The four rural schools are in Nairobi's Mukuru area.
In an interview, the head of Community Relations at BA, Ms Mary Barry said that Kenyan rural schools were at the heart of the airline and that the IT support could not have come at a better time.
"Kenya is one of the key countries we fly to and one of our key priorities is investing in their communities," said Ms Barry. She spoke to HANA during a tour of the projects ran under the Mukuru promotional Centre (MPC).
Barry also said the money would be used to put up more centres and also finance training in IT courses. The four schools are Kayaba, St Bakhita, St Catherine and St Elizabeth.
So far, an estimated 50,000 pounds (Sh6.7 million) has gone into the construction and training in one of the skills centres at St Bakhita's schools. British Airways saw the construction of an IT suite as a pilot project.
Barry explained that the airline's policy is inline with key community investment priorities, the core ones being education, development and conservation.
The airline will partner with Cisco and Microsoft systems that would help to facilitate services even further. While Cisco will provide internet connectivity, Microsoft would install learning software and facilities training for teachers. Barry is optimistic that the IT project would improve the quality of teaching and learning in the rural schools. During her tour of the school, she decried the deplorable conditions that the rural dwellers, especially pupils live in.
"Without proper homes, safe drinking water and proper nurturing, pupils from the slums can only lag behind their counterparts," said Barry.
The project is expected to benefit over 4 000 pupils. BA has already imported 200 computers to be distributed to the various centres.
And as a wider part of the airline's Community Social Responsibility, BA has organized an exchange programme between teachers from London and those from Mukuru slums in a bid to share ideas, surrounding ICTs. The two groups alternate their visits in the two countries.
BA has been running similar community development programs in Kenya for a record 10 years. The airline also supports projects in Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Tanzania and Nigeria.
Mukuru village is home to more than 400,000 people, most of them live below the poverty line.
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