7 Core Principles for EdTech Innovation in Under-Resourced Contexts

A practical guide for designing, implementing and scaling EdTech where it’s needed most

Across South Africa and many parts of the continent, schools in rural, township, and peri-urban communities operate under complex, stretched, and often fragile conditions. Yet the promise and potential of EdTech remain real and tangible. When thoughtfully designed and implemented, technology can lighten teacher workloads, strengthen learning outcomes, and build more resilient school systems.

But what does it actually take to build solutions that take root in these environments?

Synthesised from the collective insights of hundreds of teachers, funders, and ecosystem innovators, here are seven cross-cutting principles to guide the design of EdTech that works with, rather than for, our communities.

1. Design for Teacher Realities First

Teachers sit at the heart of EdTech adoption. Innovation succeeds when it fits their rhythms, reduces complexity, and strengthens rather than stretches their ability to teach. This means designing tools that are simple, intuitive, and directly aligned to what teachers already do in the classroom. Training must be ongoing, bite-sized, and non-judgmental, and EdTech must reduce administrative burden rather than add to it. When teachers feel confident, supported and valued, adoption becomes natural and sustainable.

2. Honour Linguistic and Learning Diversity

Classrooms in under-resourced contexts often include multiple languages, grades, and learning levels. One-size-fits-all solutions fail here. Effective EdTech must support bilingual and multilingual learning pathways, provide differentiated content, and offer scaffolds for learners with gaps in foundational literacy and numeracy. Culturally resonant content and storytelling deepen engagement and ensure learners see themselves reflected in their learning. 

3. Build for Low-Tech, Offline, High-Fragility Environments

Connectivity is unreliable, devices are scarce or fragile, and electricity interruptions are common. Successful EdTech solutions are offline-first, mobile-friendly, low-data, and robust enough to function even when infrastructure fails. Zero-rated platforms, restricted-use devices, and blended low-tech delivery are not optional add-ons—they are essential design foundations for equitable access and consistent usage.

4. Co-Create with Teachers, Learners and Communities

Innovation must be rooted in the lived realities, languages, cultures, and aspirations of the people who will use it. Co-creation alongside teachers, learners, parents, youth, and community actors ensures relevance and builds ownership. This approach helps surface contextual nuances that outsiders often miss, strengthens trust, and creates solutions that feel authentic and locally grounded.

5. Treat Schools as Ecosystems, Not Endpoints

Schools function within a web of relationships: principals, teachers, district officials, NGOs, local businesses, parents, and youth. EdTech adoption succeeds when these actors work together toward a shared purpose. Coordination between partners, alignment with CAPS and Annual Teaching Plans (ATP), and clarity on roles and responsibilities prevent duplication and reduce fatigue for schools. Ecosystem thinking turns fragmented efforts into collective impact.

6. Integrate Implementation into Daily School Operations

EdTech fails when it is “bolted onto” the system instead of woven into it. Implementation must respect school timetables, workload constraints, and operational realities. That means protected time for teachers to learn and experiment, simple support channels for troubleshooting, clear workflows for device management, and integration with administrative routines and curriculum objectives. Sustainable adoption is a function of operational fit.

7. Enable Community Ownership and Protection of Assets

Sustainability depends on the community's belief that the technology belongs to them and benefits their children. When parents, youth, local organisations and businesses are meaningfully involved through co-creation, storytelling, volunteering, or safeguarding, schools experience stronger buy-in, reduced theft and vandalism, and more resilient implementation. Community-owned solutions last longer, adapt better and reach deeper.

Where These Principles Came From

These insights were not generated in a silo. During EdTech Week 2025, hundreds of education innovators, implementers and enablers came together to unpack what it really takes to design and scale EdTech in these environments.

On Day 1, we structured five breakout rooms, each centred on a specific "How might we” question. The groups were deliberately diverse, bringing together teachers, funders, government officials, and practitioners. Within those rooms, debate was healthy, dialogue was candid, and insights flowed freely.

Post-it notes, flip charts, and handwritten notes captured the thinking in real time. These seven principles emerged from the synthesis of those notes—a distilled view of what it looks like to build solutions that genuinely work.

Why These Principles Matter

The reality is that EdTech alone cannot transform education systems. EdTech rooted in people, context and community, however, can meaningfully shift what is possible. These principles remind us that innovation is not just about building tools. It’s about building trust, relevance, resilience and long-term value.

They ask us to design with teachers rather than around them, to recognise the diversity inside every classroom, to build for the infrastructure we have rather than the infrastructure we hope for, and to honour the ecosystems and communities that ultimately make learning happen.

If we want EdTech to make a lasting difference, especially where the need is greatest, then these seven principles are not just considerations. They are commitments.

A commitment to listening. A commitment to relevance. A commitment to dignity. And ultimately, a commitment to making education work better for every learner, in every context. 

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