When we talk about “educational innovation”, the mental image is usually the same: students with state-of-the-art laptops, schools with high-speed broadband, and robotics labs. This image, however, represents a tiny minority of the educational reality in Latin America.

The “5% problem” refers to this historical trend: cutting-edge technological innovations tend to initially benefit only the most privileged sectors.

The digital divide is a learning divide

The paradox of educational technology is that, if it is not designed with equity from the beginning, it has the potential to exacerbate the inequalities it attempts to solve.

“Innovation that does not reach the majority is not a systemic solution, it is a privilege.”

Designing for the 95%

At Mentu Labs, we believe that true innovation occurs when we design solutions that work in the most challenging contexts. This implies:

Low-Tech and Offline-First Solutions

Artificial Intelligence does not require every student to have a device connected to the internet 24/7. We can use AI to empower the teacher in their preparation, generating highly personalized materials that are then printed or shared via WhatsApp, a ubiquitous tool even in low-connectivity areas.

Radical accessibility

The user interface must be intuitive not only for digital natives but for teachers who have little familiarity with technological tools.

The true measure of an EdTech tool’s success is not how many awards it wins at international conferences, but how many student lives it transforms in the most remote and vulnerable classrooms of our region.