Abstract
This study sought to investigate the role played by the 4IR in increasing/decreasing educational
inequalities in selected South Africa primary schools in the Gauteng Region. It therefore utilised
qualitative research methods, mainly through semi-structured interviews and document analyses. In
this study, ICT school coordinators from the three sampled schools; a group of five learners from
each of these schools, and one district ICT subject advisor from the Johannesburg East Education
District (EED) were interviewed. These people were purposively sampled because of their knowledge
and experiences in the use of ICTs in schools. In terms of theoretical frameworks, it mainly used the
theory of Utilitarianism by Stuart Mills and Jeromy Bentham; Justice as Fairness by John Rawls, and
the Capabilities Approach by Amartya Sen. These theories, used in this combination, were important
as they provided rich lenses for understanding and explaining the role of 4IR in education, and how
it does promulgate inequalities and injustices especially among the disadvantaged township schools
and communities.
Importantly, the study established that Operation Phakisa Initiative (OPI) indeed aggravates
inequalities among the disadvantaged schools and communities in Gauteng, South Africa. Precisely,
4IR was reported to have increased digital divide; decreased equal participation in education
experience, and increased dropout rates among students. Contributory factors to these inequalities
included unequal resource distribution; unreliable electricity supply and load-shedding; unreliable
and expensive internet; substandard and unreliable ICT devices; lack of technology and information
literacy skills; differentiated social capital, and poor support services, among others. These findings
contradicted popular narratives, which claim that 4IR improves access to, and quality of education;
promotes ubiquitous learning; fosters economic growth and development; supports creativity and
equality, among others. The study recommended that the inclusion of 4IR in South African primary
schools needed adequate pilot studies targeting lower primary grades in order to introduce the pupils
v
to the new technological culture while fresh and young, but not at the adolescence stage as was the
case with OPI. This way, some challenges reported in OPI could have been avoided. It also
recommended that ICT devices should be equitably provided to all disadvantaged schools to allow
learners access and participate in education equally. These devices should be accompanied by
adequate support and capacity building beyond the school walls to ensure that users and parents alike
own 4IR and its tools. It finally recommended further research on the feasibility of OPI, and its role
on inequalities in schools and in society targeting more schools than this study had done.