According to Levert Fisher, Product Manager: Office Print, Communication Services and Education Solutions, Ricoh South Africa, the country’s slow adoption of digital tools is widening the skills gap and holding back progress in education.
Technology integration in education has surged in recent years, but South Africa’s schools are not keeping pace with the digital world. While learners elsewhere use technology to learn, collaborate, create and prepare for modern jobs, most classrooms still run on paper-based processes that belong in a pre-digital world.
The global education-technology market continues to expand at pace. Across Africa, the e-learning sector was valued at US $3.4 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach US $7.7 billion by 2033, growing at about 9.1 percent annually. In South Africa, the EdTech market was worth roughly US $928 million in 2024, with annual growth of just over 10 percent. The higher education technology segment alone is expected to reach US $3.1 billion by 2030, supported by an almost 9 percent CAGR. These figures confirm that digital learning is gaining traction across the continent, even if classroom adoption still lags behind.
In many public schools, the shift to digital is slowed by three main barriers: lack of funding, weak infrastructure and resistance to change. Many teachers are still part of a generation that was not trained to use digital tools. This is not a lack of willingness, but a lack of support and training.
While private schools have the budgets to upgrade, public schools lag behind. Research shows that 89 percent of learners in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to a computer at home, and 82 percent lack internet access. This limits both teachers and students. Even when digital tools are available, such as interactive whiteboards, uptake depends on the confidence and comfort of those using them.
Interactive whiteboards (IWBs), large touchscreen displays that connect to computers or the cloud, allow teachers to write, draw, present and save lessons digitally. They can display multimedia, link directly to the internet and store lesson materials for later use. Teachers can reuse and adapt content instead of rewriting notes every day. Students can engage with lessons through visual, audio and interactive activities, improving focus and retention. Studies show that IWBs can increase classroom participation, help learners grasp complex concepts and reduce time spent on manual preparation.
At Ricoh, we have seen how quickly things change once teachers receive support. Digital whiteboards let them prepare lessons in advance, save their work and access materials instantly. The result is less time spent writing and more time engaging with students.
The biggest challenge is not technology itself but how people respond to it. Younger teachers tend to welcome digital tools, while older ones are cautious. A recent study found that in rural South African schools, teachers had strong content and pedagogical knowledge, but their technological knowledge was significantly lacking. Successful adoption comes from understanding these differences and tailoring training accordingly. The goal is to make technology a practical tool that supports teaching, not something that complicates it.
Government and business both have roles to play. Public-private partnerships could help bridge the digital divide, particularly in rural areas where rural internet access is still below 40%. Even a simple LTE router can open up access where full fibre rollout is not yet possible.
Education is the foundation of economic growth. Digital learning tools can connect South African students to the same information and opportunities as their global peers. They can also reduce long-term costs by cutting down on stationery, document storage and administrative time.
The key is to integrate it in ways that make learning easier, faster, more engaging and more applicable in the real world. If we invest in infrastructure, training and support, the return will be a generation better prepared for the digital economy.
