Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there are suddenly over a billion kids worldwide out of school. Online education services are trying to respond to the need.

Khan Academy, the free online suite of K-12 courses, says that traffic is up over 50% and climbing. Prior to the pandemic, the site already served 18 million students in 42 countries with 10,000 classes in 42 languages.

Founder Sal Khan is running webinars for teachers turning to Khan Academy for assistance in leading online classrooms.

Indian education company Byju’s has made all curricular materials free for the month of April. The firm saw a sudden 60% jump in traffic within seven days of the new policy.

Duolingo, the online language learning service, is also reporting a surge in usage of its various offerings. English proficiency testing is up 200%. Active users in China are up 100%.

The surge in online education activity highlights the need for connectivity for students. Around two million schools currently lack any connectivity, a situation which needs to change in the near future.