The United States promises children a free public education. It doesn't promise them an internet connection. As schools have transitioned to virtual learning in response to the pandemic, students in rural America are struggling to complete their assignments and maintain their grades. In Robeson County, North Carolina, at least 43% of homes don't have an internet connection.

Alexis Hinson, (right) a 16-year-old junior at Fairmont High School who has no internet in her own home, participates in an English class using her cousin's internet and laptop in Lumberton, North Carolina. As Hinson works, Rebecca Brown, left, her daughter Alexis Brown and Hinson's mother, Rikki Mofford, eat breakfast as Macie the dog looks on.

Photographed for The New York Times.

A sign advertising internet service is seen on a roadside in Fairmont, North Carolina.

A cell tower is seen beyond a field of cows in Maxton, North Carolina.

Brittany Hammonds co-teaches Math 1 in her empty classroom to 9th-grade students at Fairmont High School.

Shekinah Lennon, 17, right, helps her sister, Orlandria, 14, left, connect to a science class at Fairmont High School using a computer borrowed from her mother's boyfriend in Orrum, North Carolina.

A sign provides instructions for how to connect to the internet on a so-called "WiFi Bus" in a grocery store parking lot in Lumberton, North Carolina.

Calob Kerns, 13, a student at Magnolia Elementary School, works on schoolwork while connecting to the internet via a so-called "WiFi Bus" in a grocery store parking lot in Lumberton, North Carolina.

A TV tuned to a broadcast channel intermittently loses service at the home of Rebecca Brown on October 28, 2020 in Lumberton, North Carolina.

Orlandria Lennon, 14, connects to a science class at Fairmont High School using a computer borrowed from her mother's boyfriend in Orrum, North Carolina

Park Ranger Lane Garner installs a sign alerting visitors to WiFi access as part of the NC Student Connect initiative at Lumber River State Park in Orrum, North Carolina.

Idle buses are seen as the sun rises at a Robeson County Public Schools facility in Lumberton, North Carolina. Two hundred and one buses remain unused on the lot, while 39 buses have been fitted with WiFi hotspots and are providing internet at various locations throughout the county. Twenty additional buses are being used to distribute food.