OPINION: Transforming education through digital skills - Safaricom and DSF partnership

By Karen Basiye

Safaricom’s ambition to become Africa’s leading purpose-led technology company goes beyond innovation through our products and services. At its core, it is about transforming lives through impactful interventions across key pillars: education, agriculture, health, and humanitarian response that directly reflect the pressing needs of our communities.

Through the Technology for Development workstream, partnerships remain central to delivering shared value. It is in this spirit that Safaricom has partnered with the Digital Skills Factory (DSF) to accelerate digital literacy in the education sector. An area where access to infrastructure has improved, but utilization remains low due to persistent skills gaps.

Recently, in collaboration with DSF, Safaricom conducted a Trainer of Trainers (ToT) programme involving 33 teachers and 14 headteachers. The training focused on strengthening digital literacy and embedding inclusive education practices, equipping educators with practical skills to deliver in an increasingly digital, learner-centred environment.

The sessions were immersive and hands-on, with DSF trainers guiding participants through modules designed to build both confidence and competence. Teachers learned to create and manage online classrooms, enabling continuity of learning beyond the physical classroom and fostering more inclusive participation.

To enhance engagement, the programme introduced gamification tools such as Kahoot, helping educators break the monotony of traditional lessons and encourage active learner participation. Teachers also gained practical skills in setting, managing, and sharing assignments digitally tools that support structured, continuous learning.

For school heads, the training emphasised digital leadership. Headteachers strengthened their ability to manage virtual engagements through tools such as Google Meet, improving efficiency in communication and administrative coordination. Meanwhile, educators were introduced to emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence tools like Gemini and Copilot, which can support lesson planning, content creation, and more personalized learning experiences.

Importantly, the programme embraced inclusivity. For visually impaired teachers, adaptive technologies such as screen readers ensured full participation, reinforcing the commitment to equitable access to digital skills for all educators and, by extension, their learners.

Kenya’s transition to the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system has fundamentally reshaped how teaching and learning are delivered. It calls for a more learner-centric, digitally enabled approach. This shift has made it essential to retool teachers with relevant digital competencies, ensuring they can effectively meet the needs of modern learners.

This initiative aligns with the M-Pesa Foundation’s Citizens of the Future programme, which aims to upskill between 10,000 and 20,000 teachers in digital literacy over the next five years. Through this partnership, we are building a pipeline of educators who are not only digitally competent but also future-ready.

Before the training, many teachers expressed a lack of confidence in using digital tools. Today, that narrative is changing. Educators are now embracing innovation, leveraging AI tools to enrich lesson delivery and improve classroom engagement. Equally important, the ToT model ensures sustainability, as trained teachers cascade their knowledge to peers amplifying impact across schools.

This partnership directly addresses a key challenge: while significant investments have been made in digital infrastructure through initiatives such as GIGA Schools, Instant Network Schools, and Computers for Schools, adoption has lagged due to limited digital literacy. DSF bridges this gap by providing structured, engaging, and accessible digital learning content that drives uptake and meaningful use.

Beyond training, the partnership is designed for scale and sustainability. It combines Safaricom’s network reach and technological infrastructure with DSF’s robust curriculum to improve digital literacy, increase utilization of existing infrastructure, and promote continuous learning through both free foundational courses and premium content.

Ultimately, this initiative is about more than skills it is about unlocking opportunity. By empowering teachers with digital-first capabilities, we are shaping a generation of learners equipped with practical, job-ready skills that align with today’s and tomorrow’s market needs.

At Safaricom, we believe that when teachers are empowered, learners thrive and when learners thrive, communities prosper. This partnership is a meaningful step toward building an inclusive, digitally enabled education ecosystem that leaves no one behind.

The writer is the Director, Sustainability and Shared Value at Safaricom.