Digital push could leave learners behind — ICDE

Digital push could leave learners behind — ICDE | Daily Tribune

“The question we therefore need to ask ourselves isn’t how can we make education more digital? It is rather, who is education reaching and who are we still leaving behind?” she said.

The International Telecommunication Union estimated that about 6 billion people were online in 2025, leaving 2.2 billion offline, with persistent gaps in affordability, quality and digital skills.

Gjelsvik said the assumption that education has become universally digital overlooks learners in remote and underserved communities.

“We tend to think that now everything is online, everybody’s using AI, but that’s not the case,” she said.

She said ICDE members are exploring technology that can work where internet access is limited or bandwidth is expensive, including parts of Asia and the Pacific.

The issue is particularly relevant to the Philippines, where ITU data showed about 67 percent of Filipinos used the internet in 2024.

When schools close

Gjelsvik linked open and distance learning to the need for education systems to withstand disasters. Typhoons, floods, earthquakes, power interruptions and damaged infrastructure can prevent students and teachers from reaching schools.

She cited the Covid-19 pandemic as proof of the need for systems that allow learning to continue when schools close.

Distance education institutions were able to continue instruction because they already had systems for learning outside physical campuses, she said.

For Gjelsvik, the lesson is not simply to put more education online but to build systems that remain accessible under different circumstances.

Gjelsvik said the Philippines should approach the 2027 global conference not only as a participant but as a contributor to the global discussion on education.

“This is therefore simply not a story about what the Philippines can learn from the world. It’s equally a story about what the world can learn from the Philippines,” she said.

She said the country’s experience with distance education, geographic barriers and disaster disruptions could inform global discussions on AI and digital transformation.

“Open and flexible and distance education is not simply about technology. It’s about finding ways of reaching people whose circumstances do not fit the traditional molds of education,” Gjelsvik said.