The
Coronavirus pandemic has severely affected the traditional brick and mortar
education in schools and colleges across the globe. India is no exception. It
has led to an exponential growth of digital education throughout the country. Everywhere,
the teachers are recording their lectures and uploading of social media
platforms like YouTube and sharing links on WhatsApp groups or teaching via various
mobile applications.
However, are
Indians parents equipped with proper infrastructure to facilitate digital education
for their children? Or will the students from rural and urban India gain equal
access to online education? The students
in metropolitan cities clearly have an advantage of better infrastructure and
long conducive learning hours for online education. The parents are in a better
position to facilitate their children with digital learning mediums.
But in rural
India, the digital education remains a distant dream for many. Recently, the CHILDLINE
1098 team in Haryana, Mewat district rescued a child working on a construction
site. Upon counseling the child revealed that his school is conducting classes
online, to which neither he nor anyone in his family owns a smartphone. In order to buy a smartphone and study better
in the future the child was working at the construction site. The child was
presented before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) who handed over the child to
his parents after the due diligence process. After few weeks, CHILDLINE visited
the child’s place. The child, a student of 8th Std., was at home and
studying. This case is a true reflection of the ground reality of the digital
education in India.
On further
discussion with principals of Govt. and private schools regarding online
classes, it was revealed that, in Govt. schools, teachers have formed WhatsApp groups
to provide online education to students. However, it has been observed that
only a handful of students have benefitted from this education opportunity. Nearly,
70 percent of the students are unable to access online education. In private
schools only 50 percent of the children are able to access online education.
This is mainly due to the lack of infrastructure or internet connectivity.
In some
cases, only one parent has a smartphone which they take to work and children
have to wait till that parent returns home. In households with only one
smartphone, gender disparity is hugely prevalent. The male child is given
priority over the female child to access the smartphone. The stakeholders from
the education department are trying to provide education to all the children
during the lockdown however due to lack of infrastructure; many children are
unable to access the learning mediums.
The local
Sarpanchs and village heads can play a great role in facilitating digital
education for children. They can help set up proper Wi-Fi system and help
children with smartphones or computers in the common spaces for children. Organizations like CHILDLINE 1098 can work as a catalyst and help identify
resource organizations to facilitate digital education so that no child will
have to engage in child labour for online education.
