South Africa’s education sector is under extraordinary pressure. Even as digital transformation accelerates across schools, universities and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges, the country’s deep structural divides, including connectivity gaps, infrastructure deficits, digital inequality and uneven access to devices, continue to widen. The result is a system where progress is real, but impact is uneven; where innovation is happening yet not always reaching the learners and educators who need it most.

This tension sat at the heart of the recent MTN-IDC Education Roundtable, an invite‑only gathering of CIOs, COOs, ICT directors, DVCs and sector leaders from across basic, higher and post‑school education. The conversation was frank, technical and unusually aligned: South Africa cannot build a future‑ready education system on top of unreliable connectivity, fragmented platforms, insecure networks and overstretched IT teams. And yet these are precisely the conditions institutions are expected to operate within.

Digital transformation is not enough

IDC associate research director Jonathan Tullett opened the session with a clear warning: digital transformation alone will not close the education divide. Connectivity and power remain the most fundamental barriers, while cybersecurity threats are escalating faster than institutions can respond. AI adoption is accelerating in pockets, but without governance, coordination or shared standards. And across the system, fragmentation of data, platforms, applications, responsibilities and budgets is now one of the biggest operational risks.

Participants echoed these concerns. Basic education leaders spoke of schools where connectivity drops daily, where teachers rely on personal devices, and where safety and digital wellbeing are becoming as important as curriculum delivery. Universities described sprawling, siloed IT environments where each faculty runs its own systems, complicating security and governance. TVET and community education and training (CET) colleges highlighted the urgent need for employability‑driven digital skills, especially in AI, cloud and cybersecurity.

What emerged was a shared recognition that the sector needs a new model that moves beyond piecemeal projects and towards integrated, secure, scalable digital ecosystems.

MTN as a strategic partner

This is where MTN positioned itself not as a connectivity provider, but as a strategic partner capable of supporting institutions across managed networks, unified communications, secure cloud environments and digital skills pathways. MTN’s education lead, Megan Vercueil, challenged the room to rethink what “good” looks like: not devices delivered, but devices used; not connectivity uptime alone, but learning hours enabled; not apps deployed, but outcomes achieved.

She illustrated this through the persona of Lerato, a learner navigating transport delays, power outages, patchy connectivity and safety risks – a lived reality for millions of South African students. A future‑ready system, she argued, is one where outages trigger offline content automatically; where teachers see real‑time wellbeing signals; where parents receive instant updates; and where institutions have the visibility and tools to intervene early.

Asking the hard questions

The roundtable did not shy away from the hard questions:

What will it take to close rural and township infrastructure gaps?
How do institutions scale AI responsibly?
What commercial models make digital transformation financially sustainable?
How can the sector avoid an emerging AI divide that mirrors or worsens the existing digital divide?

These are the questions explored in depth in MTN’s new white paper, developed from the roundtable discussion and IDC’s sector research. It offers a clear, evidence‑based view of the state of digital transformation in South African education and a practical blueprint for building connected, secure and future‑ready institutions.

For education leaders navigating complexity, budget constraints and rising expectations, this is essential reading.

Read the full white paper on MTN’s website and explore the insights shaping the future of South African education.