COVID-19 Widens India’s digital divide

By: EPA-EFE/HARISH TYAGI

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the education system in India, with scores of children from poor areas and remote regions across the country moving to online schooling or dropping out. The change to online schooling proved beneficial only for a limited number of children, mostly in towns, cities and urban areas. The vast majority – comprising millions of children from underprivileged families – have been struggling to continue their education due to their limited access to technology. Most of the poor households were left facing India’s great digital divide. Regional governments have tried to address the problem by donating devices and conducting lessons on television channels.

However, inspite of the myriad efforts from various stakeholders, this global pandemic has turned the already unsurmountable digital divide into an evidently impossible gulf to cross.