“For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education, a basic human right.” - Kofi Anan, Seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations
The Government of India had directed all educational institutions to remain shut as an immediate measure to halt the juggernaut of Covid-19.
Schools, colleges, and universities will have very few options other than shifting a large part of their curriculum to digital platforms once the institutions reopen. The pre-pandemic face-to-face arrangements of instruction in educational institutions will no more be the norm of classroom teaching, but rather a very digitalized form of education will take its place.
Though schools and universities have been instructed to continue its respective modes of teaching though digital classrooms, a large section of teachers, professors as well as the students themselves are facing unprecedented difficulties and challenges due to lack of adequate digital infrastructure and know-how. One of the significant challenges of digital learning is the inequality in access to technologies such as electricity, internet connection, a personal computer, a smartphone, etc. Electricity is a vital parameter to access digital learning, as, without it, neither the internet nor the other means of online classrooms can be accessed.
While the central government data shows that less than 1% of homes in India are left to be electrified, however, the ground reality is less than encouraging.
Mission Antyodaya, a survey conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development, revealed that it is only about 40% of Indian households which have access to electricity for more than 8 hours a day. Additionally, it has also been found that only a meager 11% of households own a type of computer, laptop, or tablet. In fact, the 2017-18 National Sample Survey Report on Education uncovered the fact that only 8% of total households have both a computer and an internet connection in India. Such disheartening facts indicate the unpreparedness of our country to shift to a digitalized mode of learning. Besides that, the gender divide in accessing digital technologies is enormous.
According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India, for the year 2019-20, only 28% of women as opposed to 72% of men had access to any kind of internet connection. In my opinion, if the government and other specialized institutions fail to take any measures to support the disadvantaged sections of our country, such prevailing inequalities in the educational sector could further lead to widening the ever-increasing disparities of our society.
With the recommendations and suggestions to shift a majority of classroom education to digital platforms, the government has undoubtedly overlooked the economic status of the students and has been overly optimistic regarding the availability of infrastructures necessary for basic e-learning. Moreover, there has been a lack of investments and overall reassurances to develop this sector of education; in fact, the budget for digital learning was reduced by the central government to Rs.400 crores in 2020 from Rs.600 crores in 2019. The pandemic of Covid-19 has managed to reveal the deep-rooted inequalities pervasive in Indian society. It is often seen that disparities in access to education impact the efficiency of a country decades later.
At such times of a pandemic, it is important for countries around the world, including India, to ensure that while preventing the virus from spreading, education for the future is also considered. Yes, it is true, there has been an enormous generation of low-cost digital devices and cheap internet in India. However, what large sections of the Indian population is lacking is the common computing ability. It is this computing ability comprising of various technical skills such as browsing websites, researching, scanning documents, etc. which is very different from the ability of forwarding unverified messages in WhatsApp.
The ambitious goal of our government of a ‘Digital India’ will remain elusive until a more humanist approach is adopted to tackle inequalities and deprivations, instead of the profoundly flawed ‘technological approach’. The digital divide in access to digital technologies will have a severe impact on the economically backward students, for the lack of education could transpire in them falling further behind. The neoteric education system must ensure they cater to all sections of society and make sure that the existing inequalities of society are not amplified.
The big challenge today for the governments around the world is to bridge the divide between the technologically privileged and the digitally excluded populace.
Though Shifting to a digitalized form of education holds great promise for providing high-quality learning, however without the proper infrastructure and strategies, it will only further prevent the digitally and technologically underprivileged communities from escaping the vicious cycles of poverty.
(The author is pursuing his Master of Law from Queen Mary University of London. The views expressed are his own. He may be reached at gauravprakashp@gmail.com)
