At least in the UK (and most western countries are similar), the government decides (with ministers) what the curriculum should be and how it will be assessed. They decided that rote learning is what students should do. The schools have no funding for anything innovative - again, a decision by the government on how much to allocate. They can barely afford text-books, let along support an edu-tech start-up ecosystem. VCs won't touch edu-tech with a barge pole. Meanwhile, the government assessors ensure that things are taught in a particular way. Again, decided by the government and the bureaucrats. The teachers have zero control over this.
Now universities should know better. They have more funding and more resources. But there are some leaders here, like MIT.