Many schools and universities have switched to online mode for education of their students. However, one question still remains whether the economically weaker section of the society will be able to keep pace with the technology. The migrants are jobless and farmers are in distress. They used to sustain their lives on daily wages and somehow managed to educate their children. Now, with the outbreak of Covid-19 the question arises of how these kids will avail education.
There has been a huge divide in India when it comes to education. Ed-tech may be able to provide good education but it can not be afforded by everyone at least for now. Millions of students studying in government schools and colleges specially from poor economic backgrounds have lost access to education. Though people argue that online courses bridge the gap between economically stronger and weaker sections of society, the question here is of accessibility to technology. Technology has become accessible to many people but it is still not accessible to many rural parts of the country. As per National Sample Survey report on education 2017-18, less than 15% of the rural parts of India have access to the internet, whereas for urban areas the percentage is 42%. The economically weak cannot afford internet or smartphone or a computer.
Thus the poor students are hit hard by this pandemic because they can be left behind with this sudden change in teaching pedagogy. Many poor families used to send their children to schools because they were assured that their children would get a mid-day meal. They believed that school was a safe environment for them. Many poor students do not have such facilities like their private rooms in which they can study. The houses in rural areas are not very spacious and sometimes lack basic amenities. Therefore, even if the students get access to the internet there will be another challenge of whether they will have the right environment for studies.
Impact on education of Girls
This may have an impact on the education of girls. Many poor people have a laid back attitude when it comes to education of girls. This problem of accessibility of education has further added to the problems of education of girls. This may increase the drop out rate of girls.
Challenge of learning in English rather than their native language
The other challenge is providing them education in the language they understand. Many ed-tech platforms are not available in vernacular languages. The students should be able to connect to their teacher through these platforms. However, many government schools and colleges don’t have the infrastructure for this connectivity and building this infrastructure right now will incur huge costs. The schools will have to invest in digital infrastructure as well training of the teachers and they lack funds for these changes.
Electricity Issue
Even if the students tackle all the above barriers there is one more barrier which comes in way of their education and that is electricity. Though the government, through the Subhagya scheme, claims that 99.9% of Indian households receive electricity, the question is about their quality. The electricity connection is poor in major parts of the country. Electricity is very crucial for digital learning because digital devices operate on it. This leads to more cost in accessing education.
What can be immediate solution for this?
For short-term the government schools should explore other options like radio and TV. Most preferably the government can work out something with radio. It can be like setting some local frequencies for an area like one frequency for Gujarat students where they can learn in their native language gujarati. This may help them in accessing education till the situation improves. The government should ensure that lack of access to internet should not lead to digital divide.
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