When China’s coronavirus outbreak took hold in February, Li swapped her middle school classroom for a friend’s phone and a patchy internet connection.

Like thousands of others across the country, her school in a poor, remote part of Southwest China shut its doors to curb the virus’s spread and moved all classes online. But for 15-year-old Li, the transition was far from smooth. Her family doesn’t own a computer or smartphone, making her reliant on her classmate’s generosity. And poor connections sometimes made it hard to see or hear her teachers.