Zila Tech, a Digicloud Africa and Google partner in Kenya, is driving a new approach to education across the country with Google Workspace for Education and Chromebooks.
Phelomena Siokan, Customer Success Engineer at Zila Tech, says the company started introducing Google Workspace for Education and Chromebooks into Kenyan schools about two years ago, and has seen phenomenal interest and uptake since then.
She explains that traditionally, schools in Kenya used Windows devices – either issued by the schools or in a BYOD model. “This created complexity and incurred high management costs for schools,” she says. “They had to run servers and pay multiple IT staff members to manage the devices and secure the environment.” Previously, schools that opted for Chromebooks had to import their own.
However, with Google Workspace for Education and Chromebooks imported by Zila Tech, schools are enjoying streamlined new environments that are secure, simple and cost-effective to manage.
Uptake is accelerating as Zila Tech introduces schools to the benefits of the Google for Education ecosystem. Following rollouts to pioneering schools and a ‘One Child One Chromebook’ launched in June last year, schools are placing their orders in growing numbers.
Phelomena says most schools migrating to the Google environment start by deploying the free Education Fundamentals Edition, which provides essential teaching and learning tools along with AI features like Gemini and NotebookLM.
Designed for smarter teaching
Phelomena says teachers are particularly excited about how the Google for Education ecosystem enhances both admin tasks and teaching. “For example, we have a feature called Class Tools- a modern classroom management solution for ChromeOS that includes real-time instructional tools and device management capabilities. Teachers can move students into specific browsers that they are teaching, limit certain uses in the classroom, or even lock their Chromebooks so that they’re able to focus on the teacher,” she says.
Teachers can also share resources with the class from their own devices, remotely view students’ screens to check their progress, or turn on real-time captions for enhanced accessibility.
In addition, teachers are benefiting from the embedded AI features that enhance NotebookLM and Google Workspace, as well as the ability to create custom AI assistants and experts with Gemini Gems. Phelomena explains: “With Gems, you can create an expert inside Gemini. For example, if you want an AI mathematics teacher just like you, you can just create it and then give it the description of you and its limitations – such as it should help students but it shouldn’t give them the answers. And then you can share with other teachers or with the students in the classroom, to help them learn.”
Simplified IT
Phelomena notes that using Google for Education and Chromebooks reduces IT costs for schools. “Schools only need one IT person to control the devices because it enables centralised management from one platform – the Google Admin Console. We are training the IT admin people on how to push policies such as how to limit the content that students are able to consume from the Chromebook,” she says.
By pairing Chromebooks with Google Workspace for Education, schools aren’t just buying laptops, they’re deploying a unified ecosystem designed to solve the three biggest headaches in EdTech: security, manageability, and Total Cost of Ownership, she says.
Zila Tech runs pilots, IT admin and teacher training workshops, and offers managed services for repairs, provisioning, licenses, and professional development to support its customers. Going a step further, Zila Tech has also partnered with local banks on financing arrangements to reduce capital expenditure for schools.
“We are looking forward to transforming schools here in Kenya, starting from Kenya and then to the rest of Africa using Chromebooks,” she concludes.
“Because Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education are built for one another, they then tend to move to Chromebook for uniformity and ease of management,” she says. “Later, they move to the paid tiers of Google for Education, where they benefit from more advanced security, proactive monitoring, deeper administrative controls, enhanced virtual teaching features, advanced analytics, and premium AI integrations.”
Fast, intuitive devices for an entire school career
Phelomena notes that Chromebooks are ideally suited to the education environment.
“Whether these devices are new Chromebooks or obsolete devices that have been flexed, they are fast. Chromebooks generally boot up in less than ten seconds. They also have a long battery life of up to ten hours, they are secure, and they are very simple for learners to use,” she says.
“Chromebooks are available in a range of forms from different OEMs including special ruggedised models for students, and we’ve partnered with key OEMs and financial institutions so that we can make chromebooks affordable,” she notes.
Chromebooks receive automatic updates for up to ten years after manufacture.
Chromebooks are ideally suited to the education environment. Whether these devices are new Chromebooks or obsolete devices that have been flexed, they are fast. Chromebooks generally boot up in less than ten seconds. They also have a long battery life of up to ten hours, they are secure, and they are very simple for learners to use,”
Phelomena Siokan – Zila Tech
