More than 100 Kenyan university students will on Friday sit for the inaugural national ICT examinations that are part of skills development supported by Chinese telecom technology firm Huawei, the company said on Thursday.
Six outstanding performers in the Huawei supported examinations aimed at boosting ICT skills of local youth will later participate in a regional competition that will take place in South Africa.
Adam Lane, a public affairs officer of Huawei, said that Kenyan students who participated in the ICT training program are well positioned to compete on the global stage.
"Our inaugural class is full of talented students and am confident that as they start their national examinations tomorrow they are well prepared to challenge their competitors from other African countries," said Lane.
An estimated 4,000 students drawn from 14 local universities signed up for the Huawei sponsored contest that sought to refine their ICT skills and enhance their employability and self-reliance.
The students went through rigorous training and the outstanding 100 were dispatched to a boot camp to benefit from mentorship and networking aimed at imparting them with high end ICT skills.
Lane said that success of ICT training program earmarked for the youth hinges on tapping into the passion, creativity, innovation and broad knowledge on contemporary issues among local tutors.
"For ICT training to be efficient, the trainers have to be equipped with the knowledge base to be able to successfully produce high quality professionals," said Lane.
"It is for this reason that Huawei ICT competition included training of trainers from the 13 universities that serve as Huawei ICT Academy who we are confident will be able to effectively transfer the knowledge to their students," he added.
The 2018-2019 edition of Huawei ICT competition for Kenya that was launched in July aimed to equip local youth with knowledge on application of digital tools in their everyday lives.
Kenya's six finalists could get an opportunity to travel to China to attend the global finals that involve candidates from more than 50 countries if they emerge successful in the regional contest to be held in South Africa.
