South Africa champions digital sovereignty at eLearning Africa 2025
Date: 2025-05-08
South Africa's Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Nomalungelo Gina, has outlined the nation's strategic roadmap for digital education transformation at the 17th eLearning Africa Conference. Leading the South African delegation, Dr. Gina emphasized Africa's urgent need to develop sovereign capabilities in critical technologies during her keynote address at the Ministerial Roundtable on "The Centrality of Data."
"Data
infrastructure forms the backbone of effective eLearning ecosystems," stated Dr. Gina, highlighting essential technologies including AI,
blockchain, and mixed reality. She showcased South Africa's pioneering
initiatives like the Data-Driven Districts Programme, which provides real-time
learning analytics to 22,000 schools, and the Centre for Artificial
Intelligence Research's work in adaptive learning systems.
The address
particularly spotlighted blockchain's growing importance in education, with
South Africa piloting decentralized credential verification systems to combat
qualification fraud. Dr. Gina called for pan-African collaboration in
developing secure, scalable data infrastructure that respects continental
digital sovereignty while meeting global standards.
South Africa's
participation reinforces its leadership in shaping Africa's digital education
agenda, with several nations expressing interest in adopting its proven models
for data-driven learning transformation.
By: Kanto Kai Okanta
