When schools shut down, many students around the world were shut out, as their education systems were ill-prepared for online learning. The OECD’s 2018 PISA report revealed wide disparities between countries and socio-economic groups on the availability of adequate technology and schools’ capacity to use digital tools to enhance learning.

The Covid-19-related switch to online learning in German schools could exacerbate existing educational inequalities, due to wide variations in access and digital literacy at home.

In the United States, the pandemic made obvious what has long been a problem – students without access to the internet or computing devices at home are at a serious disadvantage.