-The Hindu Evidence of significant disparity in access to online schooling during COVID-19 Schools across the country have now been closed for six months due to COVID-19, but this means vastly different things for different people. For the child in urban Himachal Pradesh, where Internet penetration is higher than 70%, it likely means online schooling, Zoom classes and digital textbooks. For the child in rural Odisha, where less than 6% of households...
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A Reality Check on India’s Search for Digital Utopia -Preeti Mudliar
-The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the persistent Digital Divide afflicting rural India owing to poor and insufficient internet connectivity. With the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech acknowledging the need ‘to complete’ internet connectivity to villages, there is a renewed vigour and interest in the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN)/BharatNet project. An important question to pose when translating policy to project is: when should...
More »Issues facing online education -Abhishek Jha
-Hindustan Times Digital Divide: Students who, in theory, have access to e-teaching will have to depend on inconvenient methods such as mobile The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the education sector globally. Classes have been suspended to enforce social distancing and educational institutions, from schools to universities, have shifted to online methods of teaching and evaluation. As the number of cases continues to rise, there is no certainty about when normalcy will be...
More »Indians fear pandemic will deepen inequalities among students: survey
-The Hindu Most respondents feel it will disrupt education till vaccine is found Three out of four Indians say the COVID-19 pandemic will deepen inequalities among primary and secondary students, according to a survey by global education firm Pearson. Almost 80% fear the pandemic will continue to disrupt education until a vaccine is found. The global online survey was conducted for Pearson in May by a market research firm, with results weighted for...
More »Education dreams fade for millions in digitally divided India
-PTI/ The Indian Express NGOs working with people with disabilities have expressed concern over the issues faced by students in e-education. Akhila Sivadas, executive director at the Centre for Advocacy and Research, a non-profit organisation, said the government needs to provide education that is accessible to students with disabilities. New Delhi/ Mumbai: The Digital Divide stretches long and deep across the expanse of India, further separating the haves from the have-nots and...
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