Beyond Hype and Hardware: The Structural Determinants of EdTech Sustainability in Ethiopia's Quest for SDG 4
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Abstract
Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation, confronts a profound educational paradox: a youthful demographic dividend—with over 70% of the population under 30, coexists with a failing education system characterised by a 8.4% university admission rate, 42% graduate unemployment, and over 9 million children out of school. Educational technology (EdTech) has been heralded as a transformative solution, yet sustainability remains elusive. This paper critically examines the structural determinants shaping EdTech sustainability in Ethiopia, moving beyond techno-solutionist narratives to interrogate the interconnected infrastructural, human, financial, and geopolitical factors that perpetuate a self-reinforcing vicious cycle of unsustainability. Employing a Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) combined with a single-embedded case study design, the study synthesises evidence from policy documents, startup ecosystem data, and scholarly literature. The findings reveal that infrastructural failure, characterised by unreliable electricity (44% rural access), limited connectivity (9% rural internet penetration), and prohibitive data costs diminishes teacher morale and agency, reducing technology utilisation and perceived impact. This dissuades investors, reinforcing governmental reluctance to scale digital contracts and perpetuating infrastructural neglect. The paper introduces the 3-P Alignment Model (People, Partnerships, Policy) as an analytical framework for sustainable EdTech deployment. Policy recommendations include prioritizing universal electrification and subsidized bandwidth over hardware procurement, shifting donor funding from short-term pilots to patient capital (5-10 year horizons), and centring foundational literacy through low-tech, high-touch approaches. The paper concludes that systemic integration, not piecemeal digitization, constitutes the only sustainable pathway to leveraging technology for educational development in Ethiopia and analogous fragile states.
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Goshu, B. S., & Muhammad Ridwan. (2026). Beyond Hype and Hardware: The Structural Determinants of EdTech Sustainability in Ethiopia’s Quest for SDG 4. Economit Journal: Scientific Journal of Accountancy, Management and Finance, 6(2), 176-198. Retrieved from https://www.biarjournal.com/index.php/economit/article/view/1569
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References
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Dixon-Woods, M., Cavers, D., Agarwal, S., Annandale, E., Arthur, A., Harvey, J., Hsu, R., Katbamna, S., Olsen, R., Smith, L., Riley, R., & Sutton, A. J. (2006). Conducting a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature on access to healthcare by vulnerable groups. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 6, 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-6-35
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Goshu, B.S. (2025). Transforming science education in Ethiopian higher education: Harnessing artificial intelligence for innovation and equity, Turkish Journal of Teacher Education, 14 (2), 102-120
Goshu, B.S. (2026). 5G Technology Deployment: A Thorough Examination of the Potential and Difficulties for Environmental Sustainability, Human Health, and Sociotechnical Systems, Budapest International Research in Exact Sciences (BirEx) Journal, 8 (1), 1-19
Goshu, B.S. and M.M. Woldeamanueal, (2019). Education quality challenges in Ethiopian secondary schools, Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science, 31 (2), 1-15
Goshu, B.S. and M.M. Woldeamanueal, (2026). Embedding SDGs in Ethiopian Higher Education: Overcoming Challenges, Seizing Opportunities, and Forging Inclusive Pathways for Digital-Era Transformative Learning, Budapest International Research and Critics in Linguistics and Education, 9(2), 54-80
Goshu, B.S. E. Abas, T. Misganaw, M.M. Woldeamanueal. (2024). Problems and Challenges of Quality Education in Ethiopian Higher Education Entrance Exams: A Case Study in Dire Dawa, Advances in Social Sciences and Management, 2 (3), 48-75
Health Care Professionals Study. (2025). Health care professionals' knowledge, attitude, practice, and infrastructure accessibility for e-learning in Ethiopia: Cross-sectional study. JMIR Medical Education.
ICT-based English Language Instruction Study. (2026). ICT-based English language instructions in rural and urban secondary schools: Access, utilization, awareness, and challenges. African Journal of Online.
Internet Society. (2025). Country report for Ethiopia (ISOC Pulse). https://pulse.internetsociety.org
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Kanju, S. D., & Masabo, C. J. (2025). Implications of institutional politics in the implementation of higher education policy reforms in Tanzania, 1985–2020. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 24(1), 61–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-024-09376-5
Kim, J. (2026). When technology speaks for education: Uncovering ideologies in South Korea's AIDT policy discourse. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics, 26, 363–382. https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.26..202602.363
Larkin, B. (2013). The politics and poetics of infrastructure. Annual Review of Anthropology, 42, 327–343. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092412-155522
Linis-Dinco, J. (2025). The future of education must drop techno-solutionism: Insights from the cases of Cambodia and the Philippines. Global Campus of Human Rights.
Mashilo, K., & Shekgola, N. (2024). Chatbots in open distance e-learning institutions. Journal of Educational Technology.
McGarr, O. (2019). The use of the Technology Acceptance Model in educational research: A critical review. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(5), 2237–2254. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12858
Ministry of Education, Ethiopia. (2023). Digital education strategy and implementation plan 2023–2028. Ministry of Education, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
Mitchell, R. (2025). Using Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) for theoretical development: Mobilising African education research. Sage Research Methods Cases Part 1. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071984185
Network Failure Study. (2025). Network failure in Ethiopian education. Taylor & Francis Online. https://www.tandfonline.com
Pre-service Teachers Study. (2026). The dilemma and countermeasures of education practice of pre-service teachers: From the perspective of sociological institutionalism. Journal of Southwest University.
Ravishankar, K., & Wase, D. M. (2024). Change and challenges of ICT use in secondary schools. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, 20(1), 107–118. https://eric.ed.gov/EJ1426559
Reach for Change. (2025a, April 3). The second cohort of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship. Reach for Change. https://reachforchange.org
Reach for Change. (2025b). EdTech Week Ethiopia 2025. https://ethiopia.reachforchange.org
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). Free Press.
Saldanha, L. C. D. (2023). Analysis of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of Feenberg's critical theory of technology. Sisyphus – Journal of Education, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.25749/sis.28797
Scherer, R., Siddiq, F., & Tondeur, J. (2019). The technology acceptance model (TAM): A meta-analytic structural equation modeling approach to explaining teachers' adoption of digital technology in education. Computers & Education, 128, 13–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.09.009
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