Zambia: Starlink connects 18 schools facing network issues 🇿🇲💻

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In Zambia, having internet at a school doesn’t always mean having a connection stable enough for teaching. Against that backdrop, telecom provider Paratus Zambia announced on October 15, 2026 that it had finished rolling out Starlink to 18 schools in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, which serve more than 10,000 children. The rollout took about two weeks, according to the operator, and is meant to replace a connection described as inadequate. The goal is to give students and teachers a reliable network so they can reach online resources on a regular basis.

A steadier connection for classroom activities 📚

Thanks to the new equipment, teachers and students at Family Legacy schools, run by a US-based Christian organization that supports more than 10,000 children in Zambia, can now reach digital resources more regularly. Students taking information and communication technology (ICT) classes, in particular, have better conditions for using online research platforms.

Family Legacy plans to keep expanding digital access across its schools. The results are reported by Paratus, the company that installed the equipment, so they should be read as information provided by the operator.

But connection problems aren’t limited to these 18 schools. National figures show that internet access for teaching remains a challenge for Zambia’s education system.

Not every connected school has a reliable network 📊

Zambia’s Ministry of Education 2025 statistical report counts 8,239 schools using the internet for administrative tasks. Only 5,487 use it for teaching and learning. More telling still, just 3,276 schools say they have a stable connection.

The numbers expose a gap between having internet at a school, actually using it in class, and trusting the service to hold up. In other words, being connected doesn’t necessarily mean being able to use digital resources in good conditions.

For teachers and students alike, network stability therefore remains decisive. Frequent outages can make it harder to reach educational platforms and limit the use of digital tools during lessons.

National connectivity keeps growing 📈

Nationwide, internet subscriptions rose 10.1% in 2025 to reach 14.7 million, according to the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA). That points to expanding connectivity across the country, which can be linked to the growth of telecom infrastructure.

Still, national growth doesn’t mean every school has access suited to the demands of digital teaching. That is why several initiatives aim to improve school connectivity directly and to strengthen teachers’ skills with digital tools.

Other efforts to connect schools 🛰️

Since 2024, a partnership between UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and Airtel has connected 300 schools across all ten of Zambia’s provinces. The program has also helped train 4,930 teachers in digital skills and blended learning.

Separately, another public-private program, announced in September 2026, plans to connect 70 public schools to Starlink over three years. For schools without a grid connection, the scheme also includes solar power options.

Across these projects, Zambia is pushing to widen digital access in its education system. The Paratus rollout fits that trend, even as national statistics show the need to go beyond simply making the internet available.

Is the internet at your school or university stable enough to get real work done? Tell us in the comments ☺️

Sources : Agence Ecofin, Paratus Africa, Space In Africa