Core Dimensions of Sustainably Deploying Digital Technologies in Resource-Constrained Schools in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa

Digital technologies have become the linchpin of global progress and a major part of teaching and learning processes in schools. However, the extent of the impact will depend largely on the deployment scale and sustainability. Funding agencies and governments' efforts to provide digital technologies to resource-constrained schools can be jeopardised by the lack of contextual knowledge on the sustainable implementation of digital technologies. The objective is to propose a set of context-sensitive guidelines for the inclusive, sustainable deployment of digital technologies in resource-constrained environments. The Design Science Research (DSR) approach was used to guide the research design. The concepts of sustainability, inclusivity, and frugal digital innovation provided the literary lens for designing research instruments used in interviews with school principals. The application context is the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. The contribution, namely, to provide context-sensitive guidelines on the sustainable deployment of digital technologies in resource-constrained environments aligns with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, specifically quality education. The study is novel in applying frugal digital innovation as a literary lens in the South African context.