UAE partners with Starlink to educate remote, underserved communities globally
UAE reinforces approach to building high-impact global partnerships in vital sectors
The UAE has unveiled a new initiative that will see high quality digital education become more accessible to remote and underserved communities worldwide.
This will be made possible following the partnership between The Digital School and Starlink, the satellite internet service, and will target 100 sites in remote areas around the world in the first phase.
The partnership, signed on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit 2026, will operate on an integrated model that will combine reliable connectivity with comprehensive digital learning.
The partnership was announced in the presence of Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, Vice Chairman of the World Governments Summit and Chairman of the Board of The Digital School, an initiative under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives.
This partnership reflects the UAE’s leadership in advancing future-ready education solutions and strengthening global collaboration while reinforcing its commitment to expanding equitable access to education and shaping the future of learning.
The agreement was signed by Ryan Goodnight, senior director of market access and development at SpaceX, and Dr. Waleed Al Ali, secretary general of The Digital School.
“We’re thrilled to deliver high-speed connectivity to the UAE’s new global model for digital education with The Digital School and their students. With Starlink, students in remote, underserved, or connectivity-challenged areas can access online learning, real time collaboration tools, global scholarships, and career resources، sparking curiosity and growth,” Goodnight highlighted.
The partnership
Through this partnership, reliable and high-quality satellite internet connectivity will be provided while The Digital School will lead the development and deployment of a comprehensive digital education ecosystem that will transform connectivity into a structured accredited learning journey. This includes tailored digital education programmes learning platforms digital content and sustainable capacity building for educators.
While the first phase will target 100 sites, the project comes with a flexible design that allows for expansion based on impact readiness and effective partnerships. The partnership will also include enrichment pathways in space sciences leveraging SpaceX’s ecosystem.
Three schools in the Kingdom of Lesotho have already been equipped with Starlink connectivity alongside integrated digital education systems provided by The Digital School. These include computers a dedicated digital learning platform digitisation of national curricula and comprehensive teacher training programmes ensuring a systematic sustainable and measurable educational impact.
The Digital School initiative has so far benefited over 800,000 learners and trained over 30,000 digital educators to date. Educational and training content is currently available in seven languages: Arabic, English, French, Spanish, Sorani-Kurdish, Portuguese and Bahasa-Indonesia.
