South Africa: The Hidden Costs of Digital Learning - - How Monopolies Stunt Education in SA

By Lindsey Schutters

While policymakers debate screen time and cognitive development, a parallel crisis is quietly unfolding in South Africa's education sector: a tech supply chain riddled with vendor monopolies, retail exploitation and hardware dumping that prioritises profit over pedagogy.

In a September 2025 parliamentary portfolio committee briefing, the departments of basic education and communications and digital technologies said that a total of 545,938 information and communication technology (ICT) devices were procured for learners in SA over the 2022 to 2024 financial years. In the same period, 30,818 devices were procured for teachers, and 10,588 classrooms were equipped with ICT resources for teaching and learning.

But because the South African government cannot afford the estimated R30.6-billion required to supply a device to every learner, the overwhelming majority of the public education market operates on a bring your own device (BYOD) model. For many schools -- and cash-strapped parents -- the device of choice is the Google Chromebook.

READ MORE South Africa's digital dilemma - balancing screens and foundational learning in classrooms May 5, 2026 The machine is lauded for its simplicity and cloud-based ecosystem, but behind this seemingly accessible solution lies a tightly controlled licensing structure that is artificially driving up costs.

Education rides on Chrome

Werner Joubert, country head at Asus South Africa, pointed Daily Maverick to the strict, top-down approach that limits who can supply these essential ecosystems.

"Google globally has given certain...

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