The Digital Transformation of Education: Connecting Schools, Empowering Learners September 2020 The Digital Transformation of Education: Connecting Schools, Empowering Learners Acknowledgements This report has been written collaboratively, drawing on insights and contributions from the participants of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development’s Working Group on School Connectivity. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the position of the Broadband Commission members, or their affiliated organizations. As such, the views expressed here are not attributed to any one organization or individual, except in the case studies contributed by respective Working Group members. The Working Group was co-chaired by Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), ITU, Audrey Azoulay, Director General, UNESCO, and Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF and consisted of Commissioners and External Experts. The report has been written and compiled by Ana Sepúlveda and facilitated by Doreen Bogdan- Martin (Director of Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU), Alex Wong (ITU Focal Point and Giga Co-Lead) and Chris Fabian (UNICEF Focal Point and Giga Co-Lead), Borhene Chakroun (UNESCO Focal Point), Anna Polomska (Broadband Commission Secretariat, ITU), and Samantha O’Riordan (Giga Secretariat). A special word of thanks also goes to the ITU team – Miguel Alcaine, Istvan Bozsoki, Vladimir Daigele, Jose Maria Diaz Batanero, Hani Eskandar, Aminata Amadou Garba, John Garrity, Farid Nakhli, Sylvia Poll Ahrens, Martin Schaaper, Christine Sund, Nancy Sundberg, Sandeep Taxali and Cleveland Thomas; Frank McCosker, Global Good Networks; James Lo, Softbank; Fengchun Miao, UNESCO; UNICEF team – Jaime Archundia, Janice Dean, Sophia Farrar, Sunita Grote, Aditi Poddar, and Naroa Zurutuza; Nanjira Sambuli and Kavita Gupta; for their strategic directions and inputs into this report. We wish to thank the Broadband Commissioners and Commissioners’ Focal Points Members of the Working Group and External Experts for their invaluable contributions, kind reviews and helpful comments. Members of the Working Group (By alphabetical order of institution, followed by alphabetical order of surname): BROADBAND COMMISSIONERS: • América Móvil (Carlos Jarque) • Columbia University (Jeffrey Sachs and Radhika Iyengar) • Digicel (Denis O'Brien and David Gaery) • EUTELSAT IGO (Piotr Dmochowski-Lipski and Estelle Schnitzler) • Facebook (Kevin Martin, Chris Hemmerlein, and Robert Pepper) • Global Partnerships Forum (Amir Dossal) • GSMA (Mats Granryd, Genaro Cruz, Lauren Dawes, and Belinda Excelby) • Huawei (Sun Yafang and Ivan Huang) • Inmarsat (Rupert Pearce and Donna Murphy) • Intelsat (Stephen Spengler and Jose Toscano) • ISOC (Andrew Sullivan and Constance Bommlear) • ISTIC (Dato' Ir. Lee Yee Cheong) • ITSO (Patrick Masambu and Renata David) • ITU (Doreen Bogdan-Martin) • KT Corporation, (Dr Ku and Byungki Oh) • Microsoft (Paul Mitchell) • MTN (Rob Shuter and Mophete Molestane) • Nokia (Pekka Lundmark) • Novartis Foundation (Ann Aerts and Lucy Seitan) • Rwanda (Patrick Nyrishema) • UNCTAD (Mukhisa Kituyi and Severine Excoffier) • UNESCO (Audrey Azoulay) • UNHCR (Filippo Grandi, Olivier Madjora, Dustin Okazaki, Jacqueline Strecker, John Warnes, and Eva Zakie) • UNICEF (Henrietta Fore) • Verizon (Hans Vestberg, Sarah Altschuller and Nicole Karlebach) • World Bank (Makhtar Diop, Doyle Gallegos, Boutheina Guermazi, and Lucine Park) • World Childhood Foundation USA (Dr. Joanna Rubinstein and Lina Fernández) • Worldwide Web Foundation (Adrian Lovett and Sonia Jorge) EXTERNAL EXPERTS: • ACTAI Global (Bill Tai) • Artificial Intelligence Development (Kathleen Siminyu) • AT&T (Amy Alvarez) • Blue Like An Orange Sustainable Capital (Amer Baig) • Center for Innovation in Brazilian Education (Lucia Dellagnelo) • Convergence Partners (Andile Ngcaba) • DBSA (Mohan Vivekanandan) • DIAL (Laura Walker McDonald) • Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation, Sierra Leone (David Sengeh) • Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General (David Kelly) • Fundación CEIBAL (Maria Florencia Ripani) • Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children (Marija Manojlovic and Howard Taylor) • Government of Kenya (Rose Mosero Maina and Philip Thigo) • Government of Niger (Ibrahima Guimba Saido) • IADB (Antonio García Zaballos) • IEEE (Sampathkumar Veeraraghavan) • Instituto de Informática Educativa (Enrique Hinostroza) • Intel (Turhan Muluk and John Roman) • LAMAP Foundation (David Jasmin) • NetHope (Lauren Woodman) • New York Academy of Science (Ellis Rubinstein) • Norad (Liv Marte Nordhaug) • NYU (Angelina Fisher) • Olin College of Engineering; Mangata Networks (Whitney Lohmeyer) • People Centered Internet (Mei Lin Fung) • PowerSchool Group (Mike Lawrence) • Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br) / Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br). (Alexandre Barbosa) • Royal Holloway, University of London (Tim Unwin) • Smithsonian Science Education Center (Carol O'Donnell) • Social Accelerator for a Green Economy (Naza Alakija) • SoftBank (Catherine Lenson) • Teach for All (Tarek Chehidi) • Telecom Infra Project (Vishal Mathur) • UNESCO-UNEVOC (Shyamal Majumdar) • United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Vera Songwe) • University College London (Mutlu Cukurova) • University of Johannesburg (Shafika Isaacs) • University of Pennsylvania (Christopher Yoo) • Virgin Orbit (Monica Jan) • Zerde National Infocommunication Holding, Kazhakstan (Pavel Koktyshev) © International Telecommunication Union, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and United Nations Children’s Fund 2020. DISCLAIMER The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of ITU and of the Secretariat of the ITU, UNESCO or UNICEF concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by ITU, UNESCO or UNICEF in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters. All reasonable precautions have been taken by ITU to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. The opinions, findings and conclusions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of ITU, UNESCO or UNICEF or their membership. ISBN: 978-92-61-32251-9 (Paper version) 978-92-61-32261-8 (Electronic version) 978-92-61-32271-7 (EPUB version) 978-92-61-32281-6 (MOBI version) Foreword In today’s increasingly digital world, 3.6 billion people still have no access to the Internet. Those without access are typically the most vulnerable: minorities, people with disabilities, indigenous and marginalized groups, as well as women, children and youth from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds or living in areas affected by conflict and violence. Lack of Internet access reduces paths to a world of information available online, and limits the potential to learn and grow, all of which contribute to the digital divide. If we are to succeed in “Leaving no one behind”, as established in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda, then we need to ensure that we are working to provide everyone, especially children and young people, with safe and secure access to the Internet, not to mention the digital skills they need to learn and improve their lives. The COVID-19 crisis has shown us how Internet connectivity is crucial to everyday activities such as work, learning and staying in touch with family and friends. Children lacking quality and reliable Internet access were disproportionately impacted by global shutdowns, as they were unable to continue their education. Today more than ever, there is a need to strengthen national infrastructure to ensure that connectivity is more widely available. Equally important is the need to strengthen school connectivity plans and to invest in quality learning in order to improve the educational access, learning outcomes and earning potential of young people, as well as the socio-economic development of their communities and countries. The Broadband Commission Working Group on School Connectivity was launched in September 2019 with the goal of addressing the global school connectivity challenge. Co-chaired by the ITU, UNESCO and UNICEF, this group brings together Broadband Commissioners, development partners and external experts to examine the issues faced by many governments when developing and deploying school connectivity initiatives. Over the past year, the Working Group has shared experiences, examined innovative ideas, and documented case studies to help countries address this issue. Discussions looked at ways to better understand the school connectivity landscape and requirements, evaluate the benefits of different technologies for different environments, and analyze business and financial models, as well as suitable content articulating connectivity with quality, safe, and inclusive learning. Using schools as an access point to provide meaningful connectivity to