According to recent statistics, India has more than 500 million internet subscribers. This makes it the second-largest internet-using country after China. About 62% of the total internet subscribers live in urban areas. About 262 of these live in the urban area. It was projected that by 2025 there would be over 650 million users in the country.
Given the ever-increasing pace of technological upgradations and the simultaneous need for it, we may soon be able to reach that mark. We might not have to wait for 2025, thanks to COVID-19! As much as we may like to believe, we are marching towards a more digital-savvy India. But, let’s not forget a huge mass of population that has been left behind: Rural India.
A survey conducted by an online scholarship platform revealed that the studies of 75 % of rural students have been affected due to the discrepancy in access to internet services. Where does this divide stem from? According to statistics, more than 75% of broadband connections in our country are in the top 30 cities. We all are aware of the lopsided growth trajectory of India, the fatality of which has been exposed time and again.
Taking a cue from some other figures like-from the total of 67 million poor in our nation, only 1% population sees a growth in their wealth, and around 63 million are pushed into poverty. Including access to the internet in their kit of basic facilities, seems far too ambitious maybe? This inequality in access to the internet and other digital necessities also comes to include digital literacy, government policies, infrastructure, physical space, etc.
Let us talk about accessibility as one of the major deterrents. It is more than obvious that, accessibility is directly proportional to the prevalence of all the above listed ( and some other) factors and vice versa. Also, going by the above statistics we may infer that the student population of rural India will be at the center of this problem, having to deal with access and ease of operating hurdles to continue their quest for learning.
Students from the government schools are the ones most affected by this. There are students who have to travel away from home to secure the internet or a mobile recharge facility. Some research on the same lead me to the story of a family living in a small hamlet on the outskirts of Kolhapur. They’re having a tough time trying to cope up with online learning. In the course of a suddenly announced lock-down, the family could manage to get some food grains and other essentials on credit. However, the children had to go to their friend’s house to continue with their learnings which have now shifted to the virtual mode, not accessible to the family.
They acknowledge that it is risky for the children to go out but; “shikshan tar jhalach pahije”. ~ Their mother believes! Maybe for them, social distancing comes at a cost; that of inequality? Articles reveal that schools there are also grappling with the perennial concern of school drop-outs. The challenge of children opting out of schools has further been aggravated by the migrant worker crisis. How, where, and how are we going to track these students who neither have a permanent address nor a traceable contact number?!
The impact of the Coronavirus across all sectors has received much attention on almost all platforms available on our fingertips, but zoom and google meet have kept the learning going is again a privileged and one-sided statement. It simply exposes the inequality that has existed since times immemorial. Given the unprecedented times ( also, ‘unprecedented’ happens to be one of the most commonly used words during the past 3 months ) the definition of classrooms has undergone some remarkable changes. The shape, size, structure, and discipline of the erstwhile classroom has been renovated. Not sure if it is for good though, as I see my brother scrolling through the gram while on an online class!