The UNESCO estimates that across 191 countries in lock-down due to the corona pandemic more than 150 crore youth are missing regular classes. This is perhaps a point of inflexion in the history of education worldwide and teaching will henceforth transform gradually and inexorably to digital learning. What are the implications for a country such as India with a youthful population but major issues of access and equity and a Global Connectivity Index (GCI) rank of 65? Not just in India, in most global college campuses, this aborted semester is being referred to derisively as an aborted semester or as a ‘Semester with an Asterisk.’ Most international Universities and schools have closed campuses and moved all teaching online until further instructions. Going forward, this may compel Universities and other educational institutions to shorten didactic curricula and shift selective courses online. However, the tremendous disruption that this shutting down has caused – depriving students of an authentic experience of face-to-face learning, meeting teachers and attendant network benefits of sharing knowledge with their peers – will remain irreparable. While nations flounder, education technology providers have blazed their way and successfully demonstrated the way ahead – this is well reflected in their skywards spiraling stocks. Companies such as Canvas, Blackboard and Moodle are today leading the global race for integrated Learning Management Systems (LMSs) which offer turnkey solutions by replicating all facets of a classroom – teaching, testing, attendance management, feedback through a software-as-service modality – ensuring interoperability, accessibility and adaptability. Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers such as edX (founded by Harvard and MIT with 20 million users) and Coursera and Udacity founded by Stanford offer various online courses – with technical topics ranging from technical ones like computer science to liberal arts ones like leadership and literature. These companies nourish a market need for modular credentials that allow students to study from wherever they are – in a flexible manner in real time. In developing countries, remote education will inevitably become a recognized alternative to conventional education – it also synergizes with the national need to improve the digital competence of students – the need of the hour. Although virtual education will specially revolutionize higher studies because mature students have a higher adaptability to technology, even for schools, an alternative mode of online education will be fruitful – if not as a regular feature then as a gap-filling alternative. It will also be a great social leveler for those who are economically disadvantaged or physically handicapped and cannot afford to commute long distances and stay in residence – because of the costs involved. However, the crucial challenge for developing countries like India will be equity of digital access – necessitating enhanced digital infrastructure. In India, internet-enabled hardware – cheap laptops and smartphones will have to be manufactured locally, considered essential learning tools and made available to students ubiquitously – perhaps even at the expense of other development support programs. The national program for implementation of the BharatNet project for Panchayat/village level fiber connectivity has to be completed on a war-footing. As on date while wi-fi is operational in only about 20,816 or 40% Gram Panchayats the total number of wifi users are only 12,89,537, ie, on an average the number of users per panchayat of average population of 5000 is less than 2%. Also, internet connectivity cannot be possible without reliable rural electrification. So this is another related key area of challenge. Effective deployment of interactive apps and television broadcasts are needed to reach students who are dispersed across wider geographies. The advantage is that participation of talented external faculty that is reluctant to traverse to sub-prime destinations can be made possible to improve the quality of education. Further, to enable this, there will have to be definite standards to formalize online education – content and security management and credible evaluation mechanisms. This may initially be capital expensive, but in the long run online education can make a critical difference to overall human development indices. Beyond this pandemic, those nations and educational institutions that do not effectively build and fortify their digital architecture and adapt timely to digital teaching – risk being rendered uncompetitive. Societies too will have to recognize and consciously steer the development of content on smart devices – not just for entertainment – but with a focus towards knowledge building. For India it is a clarion call to do its level best to urgently bridge our gaping digital divide.