The digital divide is perpetuating inequalities that already divide countries and communities, and young people from the poorest households in rural and lower income regions often fall behind their peers, being left with very little opportunity to catch up. Students cannot develop necessary technical abilities unless they have access to the internet, and digital literacy requires special attention in schools and colleges.

Lack of connectivity doesn’t just limit young people’s ability to connect online – it prevents them from competing in the modern economy, it isolates them from the world, and it causes them to lose out on education.

In partnership with Rainbow Boosters and Pandit Abaji Panshikar Foundation, Kuma Foundation has created the first Kuma Lab at a rural school in Pune, India – featuring a fully functioning computer lab, a computer teacher and digital literacy curriculum – to bridge the digital divide and get 187 boys and girls from all grade levels online.