Accra, Ghana — Africa has the world’s youngest population. More than 60% of its 1.4 billion people are under the age of 25. By 2055, the global population is expected to reach 10 billion. Most of that growth, 95%, will happen in low-and middle-income countries. Africa alone will account for 57%. By 2050, over 60% of Africans will still be under 25, and the continent will hold the largest share of the global workforce, with 22 million young people entering the job market each year.
However, learning poverty poses a challenge to this demographic.
Nine out of ten children in sub-Saharan Africa cannot read a simple text by the age of ten. Traditional classroom models cannot keep up with the demographic explosion, while the demand for modern skills continues to rise. It is in such a context that digital tools can catalyze change.
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The digital revolution is sweeping across every sector, including education.
Africa is at a critical juncture in its educational journey as digital transformation becomes necessary rather than optional. The education landscape is changing significantly due to technology that has altered how we deliver, access, and consume knowledge. Traditionally, education focused on physical classrooms, textbooks, and face-to-face interactions between teachers and students. However, as technology develops, the old model is being questioned.
Digital learning is now a key part of education’s future.
A key question regarding the use of technology in classrooms becomes one of how to implement it in a fair, cooperative, and large-scale manner as Africa transitions from being a consumer of EdTech to a creator of context-specific solutions. Despite the fact that learning poverty is still a major issue throughout Africa, Ninon Nelson, an expert in Africa’s educational technology and director of outreach and engagement, as well as Deputy Head of Office, Africa at the Spix Foundation, connects tech innovation with practical applications.
Nelson described the continent’s landscape as “full of promise,” pointing to mobile-first platforms, adaptive learning tools, and content in local languages that are finally reaching learners in ways that seemed impossible just ten years ago.
“Governments are increasingly integrating digital learning into national strategies, and private innovators are creating scalable, evidence-based solutions tailored to local realities,” Nelson said.
Yet, Nelson said, challenges remain. She said that recent studies on EdTech in low- and middle-income countries reveal that many interventions remain fragmented and under-evaluated, especially when it comes to cost-effectiveness and sustainability. “Fragmented solutions, limited connectivity, uneven teacher training, and sustainable financing beyond pilot projects remain major hurdles,” she said. “Sustainable financing beyond pilots is also a major barrier.”
She said that addressing these challenges requires a holistic approach aimed at aligning policy, investing in infrastructure, building teacher capacity, and supporting local innovation ecosystems. She said Africa is not merely adopting foreign tools but has “the opportunity to lead in designing solutions that reflect its languages, cultures, and educational realities.” She cited the newly launched RESPECT digital library of vetted EdTech applications as a concrete example of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for education that is “built with alignment to policy, classroom needs, and local technology realities.”
She said that scaling EdTech requires coordinated action.
“Governments must embed digital learning into national strategies and invest in infrastructure,” she said. “Private-sector innovators need to design solutions that are affordable, contextually relevant, and evidence-based, and international partners should focus on capacity-building and knowledge sharing, not just funding pilots.”
Partnerships, she added, are the backbone of successful EdTech in Africa. “Governments bring scale, the private sector drives innovation, and non-profits ensure underserved learners are reached,” Nelson said.
Cross-border collaboration, she said, is particularly vital.
“Cross-border collaboration allows proven solutions to be shared and adapted faster, while non-profits ensure that underserved learners are not left behind. Non-profits working alongside governments can ensure that the most underserved learners are reached, while research institutions and universities help make sure programs are evidence-based and relevant to local contexts,” she said. “For these Partnerships to work, each partner must have a clear role and be accountable for results.”
Nelson cited RESPECT™, a newly launched digital library for EdTech apps, as a prime example, already enabling this kind of collaboration.
” It is a partnership between AUDA-NEPAD, African governments, and technical partners that helps countries avoid starting from scratch. It’s a digital public infrastructure for education that will help bridge the policy-to-practice divide,” she said.
ADEA Triennale, Nelson said, crystallized several game-changing commitments, including sustained investment, deep collaboration, and the belief that digital learning must reflect African languages and cultures to make education more meaningful for children. She said that the event also stressed the need for cross-sector collaboration and strategic financing to scale and sustain innovation, moving beyond reliance on traditional sources of funding. “These ideas give us hope that Africa can take ownership of its education future and create solutions that are locally relevant, scalable, and sustainable,” she said.
EdTech can reach underserved learners when it is designed around the real challenges they face.
Closing the divide
Nelson said that EdTech can be a powerful equalizer only if it is deliberately designed for the realities of underserved learners. These include not just limited connectivity and device access, but also high teacher-to-student ratios, crowded classrooms, multilingual learning environments, and socio-economic barriers such as poverty or displacement. “Solutions that are context-sensitive, culturally relevant, and aligned with local curricula can engage learners more effectively,” she said, “Partnering with communities, supporting educators, and tracking participation ensures EdTech closes learning gaps and creates meaningful, inclusive opportunities for all students.”
Nelson sees immense opportunity in Africa’s youthful, increasingly connected population and growing political will.
“The opportunity is clear, she said: increased connectivity, a young tech-savvy population, and growing political will. However, many countries are still navigating fragmented systems and duplicative EdTech pilots. Without a national strategy, platforms remain isolated,” she said.
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She said that reports have revealed that many digital courseware initiatives in low-resource settings fail to meet scalability and sustainability benchmarks, often due to limited alignment with national systems, a lack of teacher involvement, or unclear pedagogical value, which are critical insights for countries seeking to scale responsibly. She said that “true success will come from building a shared ecosystem that combines technology, policy, teacher training, and community engagement to turn pilots into sustainable solutions.”
EdTech must work with existing systems, not around them.
Platforms like RESPECT, she added, “which are designed to support interoperability and alignment with national goals, demonstrate how that ecosystem approach can work in practice.”
Africa as a designer, not just a recipient
Nelson believes Africa can move from being a recipient of EdTech solutions to a designer and provider of context-appropriate platforms.
“Africa stands at the brink of an EdTech revolution,” she said. “By investing in local innovation, supporting homegrown platforms, and fostering cross-border collaboration, the continent can create learning solutions that reflect its languages, cultures, and realities.”
“With the right vision, Africa can not only transform education for its children but also set a global example for the future of digital learning,” said Nelson.
