When the world went quiet, learning moved online — but at what cost?

In March 2020, classrooms from Seoul to São Paulo and Nairobi to New York fell silent, sending 1.6 billion learners home. Screens lit up as laptops became classrooms and phones became teachers. For many, it felt like a rescue; for others, it revealed inequalities long ignored.

In this episode of UNESCO Reads, we revisit this unprecedented global shift, when educational technologies suddenly became the backbone of learning. And we explore how this moment reshaped childhoods, strained systems, and transformed what it meant to teach and to learn.

Featuring Mark West (author of UNESCO’s book An Ed-Tech Tragedy), Declan Qualter (PhD candidate at University College Dublin) and Daniel Schwartz (publisher at Routledge).

Prepared by Diana Sharafieva and Isabelle Le Fournis.
Produced by Emmanuel Rudowski.
Voiced by Diana Sharafieva.

Photo: © UNESCO/Eleni Debo and Rob Dobi

You can buy the publication on the UNESCO Shop.

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