Six Kenyans have been selected to participate in the global Huawei ICT competition while six teams comprising of eighteen students will be proceeding to the regional finalists.
Terence Omondi from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Rush Morgan from the United States International University emerged top in the network and cloud tracks respectively.
The Huawei ICT Competition is a competitive ICT Talent event developed for students globally.
With the theme “Connection, Glory, Future”, the competition gathers governments, institutions of higher learning, training institutions, industry enterprises to promote the cultivation, growth, and employment of young ICT professionals from universities and colleges thereby helping the ICT talent ecosystem thrive.
Speaking during the national awards ceremony for finalists in the global competition, Jerome Ochieng’, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs noted that Kenya’s human capital demand will continue to grow as the economy expands.
“The evolving nature of our economy, which now has a large digital component, requires our people to adjust rapidly to the shifting demands for skills and the attendant technologies that are driving this demand,” he added.
Huawei also presented the team that will be battling on behalf of Kenya at the African competition level. They comprise three teams competing under the Network Track from The University of Nairobi, JKUAT, and Machakos University, two teams representing the Cloud track from Kenyatta University and Laikipia University, and one team under the Innovation Track from Kenyatta University.
The winning teams will compete at the regional finals with counterparts from across Africa at an online event taking place on 19th February.
Saidou Jallow, the Unesco Chief of Education of Eastern Africa noted that for workers of the future to be included in roles that utilize emerging technologies such as cloud computing, machine learning they require a novel approach that prioritizes market-oriented content.
“It is incumbent on various industry players to include their situational issues in the learning content and thus present the students and tutors with practical knowledge opportunities that enable them to create workable solutions in today’s innovation-hungry economy,” he explained adding that the framework developed in partnership with more than 40 universities and colleges is designed to deepen ICT knowledge for all personnel.
