ZADNA identified a need to digitise South African public schools through provision of .za domain name under the school.za second level-domain (SLD). School.za is a moderated .za SLD that is administered by eSchool Network (ESN). The SLD is a close domain intended for private and public schools in South Africa and domain name registration under this SLD attracts no domain name registration fee. Currently the school.za SLD has over 2400 registered domain names.

South African public schools, particularly those in rural areas lack access to digital platforms. This is because in some areas of the rural population of South Africa there is limited or no access to digital technology and platforms. This in turn put learners in a disadvantaged situation in which they are left behind in terms of acquiring education compared to their peers in urban areas. This became evident when South Africa experienced the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted to learners in most public schools being unable to continue with learning and development – which was a different case for learners in private schools as they had the necessary digital tools to continue with their learning without disruption.

The project will not only enable learners to have digital access through e-learning but will also address the issue of digital inclusion by creating employment opportunities within the .za domain namespace through .za accredited registrars and resellers in areas where each school.za domain name will be launched.