‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.’
– Nelson Mandela
In rural Rajasthan, a sixteen-year-old studies physics on a shared smartphone between household chores. In Nairobi, a working mother pursues a data-science certificate during her commute. Their lives are separated by thousands of kilometres, yet they are connected by a common reality: education no longer begins and ends inside a classroom.
For centuries, access to learning was shaped by geography. Where people lived, the schools they could attend, and the resources available around them largely determined what they could learn. That reality has not disappeared, but its hold is gradually weakening. Knowledge today travels farther and faster than the institutions that once contained it.
At the centre of this shift is what policymakers increasingly describe as the ‘next billion learners’, a generation emerging largely from the Global South and coming of age in a world reshaped by digital change. Most are concentrated in Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Africa alone is expected to account for more than a quarter of the world’s population by 2050.1 That single fact explains why skills development has moved from the margins to the centre of debates in forums ranging from the African Union to the G20.
A New Grammar of Learning
What marks this generation is not simply access to devices, it is a different relationship with learning itself.
Earlier models treated the classroom and curriculum as the principal gatekeepers of knowledge. Today’s learners move more fluidly between formal instruction, online platforms, peer networks, and self-directed study. Learning is becoming less tied to a particular place or phase of life, more continuous, more flexible, and increasingly shaped by immediate needs.
Several technological developments are enabling this transformation. Artificial intelligence is making learning increasingly personalised through adaptive tutoring systems that identify learning gaps and tailor educational content to individual needs. Generative AI has further expanded these possibilities, allowing learners to access explanations, feedback, and educational support in increasingly personalised ways.2
Cloud-based learning platforms, digital libraries, and online certification programmes have broadened access to knowledge beyond schools and universities. Language translation technologies are reducing linguistic barriers by making educational resources available in multiple languages, thereby expanding opportunities for learners who have traditionally been excluded from predominantly English-language content.
The mobile phone, however, remains the most important device in this story. Across much of the Global South, smartphones serve as the first point of access to education, enabling learners to attend online classes, access digital content, and participate in digital learning communities. Offline applications, low-bandwidth platforms, and SMS-based learning models have further extended these opportunities to areas with limited connectivity.
These technologies are also reshaping the nature of learning itself. As labour markets evolve and new industries emerge, lifelong learning and continuous skill development are becoming increasingly important. The emphasis is gradually shifting from qualifications alone to skills such as adaptability, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving.3
National efforts illustrate what this looks like in practice. India’s DIKSHA platform delivers digital textbooks, teacher training, and multilingual educational content to millions of school learners,4 while SWAYAM has expanded access to higher education and skill development through online courses offered by leading institutions.5 In Kenya, Eneza Education reaches learners through basic mobile technology, building for local realities rather than importing assumptions from elsewhere.6 The significance of these initiatives lies not only in their scale, but in what they represent: educational technologies that can be adapted, built, and governed according to local needs.
This matters for diplomacy as well as development. China’s Digital Silk Road includes educational technology exports and scholarship programmes across Africa and Southeast Asia, while global platforms such as Coursera and edX increasingly compete for the same learners. The question is no longer simply who provides access, but whose platforms, curricula, and assumptions will shape how the next generation learns.
The Unequal Promise
Yet the benefits of this technological transformation remain unevenly distributed. For millions of learners, the barriers are still stubbornly material: weak internet connectivity, unreliable electricity, and the high cost of digital devices continue to limit educational opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed these inequalities with unusual force, revealing how quickly existing disadvantages can widen when learning moves online.7
Even where digital access has expanded, opportunities remain unequal. A student in urban Delhi and another in rural Bihar may technically use the same platform, yet their ability to benefit from it is rarely equivalent. Language barriers, differences in digital literacy, and unequal access to educational support continue to shape who can participate meaningfully in the new learning landscape. In many low and middle-income countries, women and girls also face additional barriers to digital access, limiting their ability to benefit fully from emerging educational opportunities.
Technology can expand educational opportunities, but it cannot by itself overcome deeper social and economic inequalities. The challenge, therefore, is not simply to provide digital tools, but to ensure that the benefits of educational technology are distributed more equitably.
From Access to Agency
The conversation around digital education is gradually moving beyond questions of connectivity alone. Devices and internet access matter, but they are only the foundation. The greater challenge is whether countries can build learning systems that equip people with the skills, adaptability, and digital capabilities required in rapidly changing economies.
Innovation is no longer flowing in only one direction. Some of the most relevant solutions are emerging from the Global South itself, with educators, developers, and entrepreneurs in Lagos, Bengaluru, and Jakarta designing technologies for local languages, limited connectivity, and very different educational realities. The future of learning may increasingly be shaped not only by Silicon Valley or Western universities, but also by the experiences and innovations of the developing world.
The transformation underway is therefore not merely technological; it is also political. The question is no longer simply who has access to technology, but who designs it, governs it, and benefits from it. The future of the next billion learners will depend less on the existence of new tools than on how intelligently and equitably societies choose to deploy them.
A Strategic Imperative
The stakes extend far beyond education policy.
The next billion learners will become the workers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and citizens who shape the global economy in the decades ahead. Their success or exclusion carries consequences for competitiveness, social stability, migration, and development more broadly. Expanding meaningful learning opportunities is not an act of benevolence; it is a strategic imperative.
Technology has created unprecedented opportunities for millions, but education remains more than the transmission of information. Critical thinking, values, mentorship, and human connection continue to play an essential role in the learning process. The future of the next billion learners will depend not simply on the expansion of technology, but on how effectively societies integrate technological innovation with human support.
The opportunities now exist. Whether societies are able to translate them into meaningful learning outcomes and who ultimately benefits will be determined by policy, investment, and political will.
And those decisions will have to be made sooner than we think.
References:
1 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Population Prospects 2024 (New York: United Nations, 2024).
2 UNESCO, Global Education Monitoring Report 2023: Technology in Education – A Tool on Whose Terms? (Paris: UNESCO, 2023).
3 World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs Report 2025 (Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2025).
4 Ministry of Education, Government of India, DIKSHA: Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing, https://diksha.gov.in.
5 Ministry of Education, Government of India, SWAYAM: Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds, https://swayam.gov.in.
6 Eneza Education, “About Eneza Education”, https://enezaeducation.com.
7 UNESCO, Education: From Disruption to Recovery (Paris: UNESCO).
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