The pandemic accelerated the shift to digital. But that left behind those offline, widening the digital access gap — with big implications for education.

Vickie Robinson, general manager of Microsoft's Airband Initiative, recalls how she dealt with school closing as a mother.

Having in-home connectivity helped her children transition from middle to high school with some sense of normalcy. But two-thirds of school-aged kids around the world didn't have that opportunity, she says during a Global Stage livestream conversation.

What's more, offline kids mostly come from marginalized backgrounds, which for Robinson makes the case for closing the digital access gap even more urgent.