South Africa’s national Covid-19 lockdown forced us to reassess our homes as primary sites of learning. Many adults, however, felt ill-equipped to suddenly become their children’s educators. Rather than step back during the pandemic, many innovative non-profit organisations (NPOs) quickly stepped in to guide their beneficiaries through unchartered territory.

While public benefit organisations have long spoken out about the importance of bridging the ‘digital divide’, the Covid-19 pandemic revealed, more acutely than ever before, the impacts of unequal access to digital tools and connectivity. In this learning brief, two initiatives committed to keeping learners in school – the Zero Dropout Campaign and Public School Partnerships – share how they supported learners through the mandatory school closures, outlining key breakthroughs and barriers along the way.