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At just 17 years old, Ephraim Mweemba carries responsibilities even most adults would find heavy. Growing up in Munchini Village, a rural community in Zambia’s Kafue District, he has lived with his grandmother since childhood. Like many Zambian children from the area, he was sent to live with his grandmother when his parents could no longer financially support him. From the age of ten, he became the main breadwinner: clearing fields, running errands for small shops, doing whatever piecework he could find.
He had dropped out of school twice. First at nine years old in Grade 4, and then again at ten when a family member briefly funding his schooling suddenly stopped. By the time he was a teenager, his day no longer meant going to school, playing with friends and homework. It meant labour.
“I didn’t like it,” he says bluntly. “I wanted to go back to school.”
I didn’t like it, I wanted to go back to school.
The moment that changed everything
In 2024, a public address vehicle passed through Munchini Village announcing learning opportunities for out-of-school youth like Ephraim. The message spoke of enrolling in education and using tablets, at no cost, close to home, to learn. As soon as Ephraim heard it he told his grandmother who did not hesitate: “Go and find out,” she urged.
Curious and hopeful, he went to the registration point to sign up. There, he met his first hurdle: he could not write his own name. Years of missed schooling had left him with almost no literacy. But the facilitator’s response stayed with him.
“They told me they would teach me.”
That assurance that his literacy gap was would not be a barrier was a turning point. Ephraim signed up for the Digital School Project (DSP), a flexible, technology-enabled programme run by the Zambian Ministry of Education and VVOB with support from Education Above All Foundation. Its design is built around young people in exactly his position: those who left school early and need a supported, self-paced path back in.
Learners in the Digital School Project share a tablet loaded with the curriculum in groups of three, each having the opportunity to bring the tablet home every week.
Learning, step by step
Before the tablets arrived, facilitator Lorraine Musonda ran face-to-face literacy sessions for learners like Ephraim, recognising that many needed foundational support before engaging with digital content. Ephraim threw himself into it, practising reading on paper, building the basics he’d missed years before.
When the tablets were introduced, it was the first time he had ever held one. “At first, it was difficult,” he admits. “I would guess the answers.” But the device’s instant feedback became his teacher: it showed him where he went wrong and let him try again. Gradually, guessing gave way to understanding.
“I started improving … reading more and understanding more.”
Impact over time
The change has rippled through his daily life. Ephraim now works only on weekends, keeping weekdays free for learning; a shift his grandmother not only accepts but also supports. Where once all his earnings went straight to household needs, she now encourages him to save some for school.
He has since sat for and passed the national Grade 7 examination and is now in his first year of secondary school. As he speaks about his future, he does so with a confidence that was absent not long ago. “I want to continue with school,” he says. For a boy who once could not write his own name, his progress and ambition show what’s possible with the right support and a lot of determination.