The Digital Divide: Building a Holistic Education Ecosystem in Kenya and Beyond

Key Points

• Reliable internet, adequate devices, and supporting infrastructure are essential to making academic, social, and emotional learning accessible to all students, particularly in remote and under-resourced communities.
• Partnerships among education systems, teachers, researchers, technology providers, and community organizations can address digital barriers and create the conditions for holistic learning to thrive.
• Expanding digital learning in Kenya and the Philippines requires culturally responsive resources, ongoing professional development, and solutions shaped by educators’ and communities’ needs.

Note: This blog post is a collaboration of Jae H. Paik (San Francisco State University & Grow X Education); Gladys A. Masai (Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA); Lizamarie A. Campoamor-Olegario (University of the Philippines, Diliman); and Shinchieh Duh (San José State University & Grow X Education). 

Just about a year ago in our 2025 CASEL blog, Social and Emotional Learning in Kenya: Viewing Classrooms Through the Educators’ Lens, we shared how Kenyan teachers helped shape a culturally responsive approach to social and emotional learning (SEL). Their insights guided an engaging professional development workshop in which teachers identified learners’ social and emotional needs, the classroom realities shaping their work, and the cultural values that could make SEL meaningful in Kenyan schools.

But as we moved from professional development into classroom implementation, another lesson became clear: Academic, social, and emotional learning cannot be sustained without the conditions that make it accessible. Even with committed teachers, locally grounded content, and well-designed, scalable digital tools, implementation becomes difficult when schools lack reliable connectivity, adequate devices, and the infrastructure to support digital learning.

This challenge is not unique to Kenya, but our work there made it especially visible. Teachers were eager to use digital resources to support students’ social and emotional needs through check-ins, interactive lessons, and guided reflections. Yet, internet access in many schools was unavailable or inconsistent. Teachers often relied on personal phones, mobile data, or hotspots to access online materials, while many schools lacked enough devices for students to use digital resources consistently.

When Connectivity and Digital Infrastructure Become an Equity Issue

Technology has transformed education by enabling interactive, personalized, and adaptive learning far beyond traditional classroom resources. Yet access remains unequal (OECD, 2021; UNICEF, 2023; World Bank, 2020). For under-resourced and geographically isolated schools, particularly across the Global South, the digital divide is an educational equity issue. Without reliable connectivity and infrastructure, students can miss opportunities for academic learning, social and emotional support, digital literacy development, intercultural exchange, and connection to broader learning communities.

In today’s increasingly technology-supported educational landscape, an effective digital-learning ecosystem must be part of the conversation in creating equitable conditions for learning. Our experience in Kenya reinforced this lesson: SEL work that began with teacher voice and culturally grounded professional development also needed a stronger digital foundation to reach a large and geographically dispersed student population. Without that foundation, the global education gap risks widening further.

The Need for Multi-Sector Collaboration

Addressing these challenges requires more than one organization. Education systems bring policy leadership and implementation capacity. Teachers bring local knowledge and classroom expertise. Researchers contribute evidence-based design and evaluation. Community partners help ensure cultural relevance and trust. EdTech organizations provide digital tools and learning platforms. Connectivity partners address access barriers. Device partners help make participation possible for students and teachers. Each sector plays a different role in the solution.

Our work in Kenya has increasingly become an example of this kind of multi-sector collaboration for holistic education. Our partnership with the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA), under Kenya’s Ministry of Education, provided an important foundation by connecting SEL with existing educational priorities and teacher-development systems. However, as implementation expanded, the partnership also needed to grow to address emerging barriers. 

First, to address the connectivity barriers, the partnership expanded in early 2026 to include Starlink, which provided free high-speed satellite internet to 30 pilot schools serving more than 32,000 students and 1,000 teachers in Kenya. Within one month, the proportion of schools reporting reliable or very reliable internet increased from 11 percent to 61 percent. Schools also reported greater use of digital tools for lesson preparation, instruction, assessment, and remediation, along with increased student engagement and more independent use of digital platforms. (Read more about this project here.) 

The pilot also demonstrated another constraint, which was the device shortage. Then, FOX Connect, a digital infrastructure company in South Korea, contributed 50 tablets to support Kenyan education systems and is working to secure a larger donation of refurbished laptops previously used by South Korea’s Departments of Education. The project also received support from Amazon Web Services through its Education Equity Initiative, which provides cloud and AI technology resources to support underserved learners worldwide. 

This cross-sector involvement shifts the conversation from isolated interventions to shared global responsibility and collaborative resource mobilization. If students are to develop the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century, the broader education ecosystem must be put in place to ensure all learners have the tools, infrastructure, and support to participate. 

Expanding the SEL Model Through Collaborative Building

We are now carrying these lessons into additional regions and schools in Kenya and to geographically isolated communities in the Philippines. Working with the Philippine Department of Education and the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Education, our initial project aims to support 150 remote island schools. During a school visit in June 2026, a delegation of U.S. educators and students delivered tablets and Starlink units and assisted with their installation and initial setup. These resources can reduce a major barrier to digital learning, but connectivity and devices alone will not ensure meaningful or sustained use.

The next phase will therefore focus on supporting teachers in using this new technology for academic, social, and emotional learning. That work must begin by listening to local teachers and communities, identifying their priorities, and adapting resources and professional development accordingly. The Philippine context requires its own approach as remote island schools differ in language, culture, available resources, community conditions, and exposure to weather-related disruptions. The ultimate goal is to support educators in utilizing these tools in ways that are developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant, and responsive to local students’ needs. To make this possible, ongoing professional development and continuous support will be critical.

Our experiences have reminded us that academic, social and emotional learning cannot be separated from the systems that create opportunities for students to learn. Culturally grounded SEL curriculum matters. Teachers who are committed to holistic learning matter. But so do digital access and infrastructure, particularly for students in remote or under-resourced communities. Without reliable connectivity, appropriate devices, teacher support, and locally meaningful resources, even the most promising programs may remain out of reach.

Building those conditions requires education ministries, teacher-training institutions, researchers, school leaders, NGOs, EdTech companies, connectivity providers, device partners, families, and communities working together. The goal is not one partner solving one problem at a time, but for many partners to build an ecosystem in which every child has the opportunity to learn, connect, and thrive.

The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.

Jae H. Paik, a professor of psychology at San Francisco State University and co-founder of Grow X Education. Her work focuses on advancing evidence-based, culturally responsive social and emotional learning through research, international service-learning, and community-based partnerships. For more than two decades, she has collaborated with educators and educational communities around the world to develop approaches that reflect local cultures, priorities, and student needs. She currently leads SEL and global education initiatives across the U.S., Korea, Kenya, India, the Philippines, Thailand, and beyond, with a particular interest in expanding equitable access to holistic learning opportunities.

Gladys A. Masai, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) and Executive Secretary of SMASE Africa, is an accomplished educator, researcher, and author with extensive experience in STEM education. She has held leadership roles including Acting Director of STEM Research and Innovation and Acting Director of STEM Training, reflecting her commitment to advancing STEM education across Africa. With degrees in Project Planning and Management and Education Science, along with a Graduate Diploma in Leadership Development in ICT and the Knowledge Society, her work focuses on fostering innovative teaching approaches, promoting research, and strengthening partnerships to empower educators and learners in STEM disciplines.

Lizamarie A. Campoamor-Olegario, a professor of educational psychology at the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Education and an educator for 30 years, has spearheaded projects on well-being in Philippine secondary and tertiary schools and led the development of The Joyful Child/Ang Masayahing Bata, a bilingual SEL resource package for young Filipino children. She has also supervised the creation of digital professional-learning resources for educators and contributed technical expertise to the Philippine Department of Education, the Philippine Senate, EDCOM II, and SEAMEO INNOTECH. In this collaboration, she contributes Philippine educational perspectives and expertise in culturally grounded SEL and teacher development.

Shinchieh Duh, a professor of psychology at San José State University and head of program operations at Grow X Education. She specializes in using mixed methods for individual and program assessments, with the aim to examine development across ages and in varying sociocultural contexts to bring community-rooted, culturally sensitive, and developmentally appropriate learning experiences for all students.

Related Posts

• Social and Emotional Learning in Kenya: Viewing Classrooms Through the Educators’ Lens
• AI, Technology, and SEL: How Can We Support Digital Awareness? 
• Beyond Borders: An International Service-Learning Experience

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