The government has trained 62,000 junior school teachers in digital learning, according to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). The training comes as devices and internet connectivity are rolled out to 21,000 institutions under the Kenya Digital Economy Acceleration Project (KDEAP). TSC acting chief executive officer Evaleen Mitei spoke on Monday at the 2026 Kenya Comprehensive School Heads Association annual conference in Mombasa, The Star reported.
Mitei said 10,000 schools had started receiving digital devices. The remaining 11,000 will be completed by April, alongside the rollout of fibre-optic internet, she said. The World Bank sponsors KDEAP. The Ministries of ICT and Education implement it, working with the ICT Authority (ICTA) and TSC. The project aims to widen access to affordable, high-speed internet and digital devices in schools.
According to Mitei, digital platforms can bring lessons to learners who lack facilities. She said a learner in Loiyangalani in Turkana county could join a live lesson streamed from Kilifi through platforms such as Lab Exchange, even without a physical laboratory. She added that a teacher at Alliance could teach chemistry to a class in Wajir through live streaming.
TSC, the World Bank, the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (Cemastea) and ICTA have also trained ICT champions to drive technology use in schools, Mitei said. She called digital literacy a core competence under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) curriculum. She urged school heads to look after the devices and move ICT "beyond the workshops and the locked cupboards" into everyday classroom practice. "Schools must not be offline when learners are online," she said.
Mitei said TSC is also revamping teacher professional development through the T-Learn system. The system will rely mostly on online training, backed by face-to-face sessions. A cascade system will help it reach teachers nationwide. She said 310,000 teachers had been retooled on CBE over the last three years.
TSC is also preparing teachers for new learning areas: creative arts, music and dance, theatre and film, media technology and media studies. The Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) will host the training, using its experts, equipment and centres across the country. Mitei said the programme would begin on November 23. Similar plans are being developed for sports science, recreation and physical education.
Mitei told school heads that training must lead to better classroom practice and learner outcomes, not just attendance at sessions. She said professional development should be a continuous culture, not a one-off activity.