There was a time when education moved faster than society.

Schools introduced new ideas. Teachers carried knowledge into communities. Universities shaped economies. The classroom was where the future arrived first.

Today, the opposite is increasingly true.

Technology changes faster than curriculum reform. Artificial intelligence evolves faster than policy. Learners experience the world through digital platforms long before schools have decided whether those platforms belong in education at all.

South African schools now find themselves in a difficult but important position: trying to prepare children for a future that is already unfolding without us.

This edition of TechTalk asks an uncomfortable but necessary question: Are we building schools for the world that exists — or for the world we remember?