From chalkboards to keyboards: bridging Zambia’s digital divide

In response to the educational challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, UNICEF Zambia contracted Genesis to conduct a landscape analysis of the digital learning environment in Zambia.

The study covered ongoing initiatives and associated opportunities, challenges and bottlenecks, with a particular focus on the digital divide. The primary aim was to foster foundational digital skills among children and adolescents (ages 5 - 19) and expand access to digital devices and platforms, especially for learners in hard-to-reach communities.

The research provided an evidence base that informed recommendations for a range of actors and stakeholders in the digital learning ecosystem. These included the Ministry of Education, UNICEF, other development partners and private telecommunication companies.

The landscape analysis represents a further step in addressing educational issues highlighted by Covid-19 in Zambia, where over 4.4 million children and youth were forced to remain home from school in 2020 and 2021.

To ensure that these young people continued to learn under lockdown, the government launched several initiatives under the Education Contingency Plan. These included some online-based learning initiatives but focused primarily on radio-based learning as an initial step. The reason was that computer ownership is very low at 8.1%, and only 6.8% of Zambians over the age of 10 know how to use a computer. 

There were disparities―often according to gender, socioeconomic status and location―in how learners experienced the school closures and the measures that were put in place to facilitate continued learning.

As a consequence of the pandemic, the use of digital learning methods not only increased but also gained prominence in the education sector. The lockdowns further underscored the pressing need to expand digital learning in Zambia. The pandemic highlighted two critical needs: first, both learners and teachers must become digitally literate and have access to digital learning devices and platforms; and secondly, the digital divide must be addressed.

The potential for digital technologies to support and enhance learning is well-documented. However, a comprehensive analysis of Zambia’s digital learning landscape was deemed necessary to ensure that the digital learning strategy and its implementation were guided by the evidence and the reality on the ground. In this context, Genesis aimed to uncover the full extent of existing constraints in developing digital learning in Zambia, with a core focus on the digital divide.