Growing Futures: Technology and Digital Learning for Children

Technology is changing how we learn, play, and grow. Khan Academy is a free, world-class online education platform for anyone, anywhere, offering high-quality, standards-aligned learning resources that lets students learn at their own pace. It uses something called "mastery-based learning," a fancy way of saying the program makes sure you completely understand a topic before you move on to something more challenging.

Learning isn’t just about reading and math, in the digital age, we shouldn’t just use technology, we should be creating it! That’s exactly what’s happening in India, where the National Education Policy 2020 places a strong focus on teaching students coding skills starting as early as Grade 6. In India, the government is creating thousands of "Atal Tinkering Labs"; high-tech invention spaces filled with 3D printers, robotics kits, and sensors.

In Africa, an organization called Ubongo creates engaging education TV and radio programs for children. They also use voice call technology through interactive voice response (IVR), which allows users to receive and engage with songs and lessons through audio on their mobile devices.

One major effort is Giga, a worldwide project launched in 2019 by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the International Telecommunication Union. Their goal is ambitious: to connect every single school in the whole world to the internet by the year 2030. When we put it all together; free learning platforms, new ways to connect to the internet, and the knowledge to stay safe, the digital world becomes an incredible place for us kids to learn, grow and thrive.