Online Learning in the Time of COVID-19: An Inside Look

How does access to digital learning impact inequality in the age of COVID-19?

In many ways, the prevalence of technology in our daily lives has made the burden of COVID-19 much easier as we can continue to connect to each other remotely. For many of us, finding a computer and reliable internet is an issue we barely have to think twice about. Even if we do not have access to home wifi, we are able to find free wifi at cafes, libraries, or other public spaces. However, in many communities, digital access to work, education, and relationships is hard to come by, causing inequality to increase.

How big a problem is access to digital learning for school children?

According to UNICEF, 31% of school children worldwide cannot be reached by internet-based remote learning policies. This obviously is a big problem. While extreme issues exist in access to the internet and digital devices in countries like India, even within the U.S. this remains an issue for many households.

Who is left behind?

Predictably, those with lower incomes suffer the most. In both India and the U.S., teachers report that students in low income areas struggle to access devices and an internet connection that would allow them to properly receive education. This results in a worsening of wealth, gender, and racial inequalities. 

In India, despite an ambitious government plan to provide electricity to 99.9% of households, access to consistent electricity, internet, and digital devices remains a severe problem. 

But does access to electronic devices and the internet fully solve the problem?

Even when a household has access to a computer, electricity, and reliable internet, this does not always solve issues of inequality. Internal dynamics of households often lead to greater gender inequality that was not as apparent during in-person learning. For example, in households with daughters and sons, the sons are consistently given priority to the computer and internet over the girls. This causes the girls to disproportionately fall behind, worsening their future job prospects. 

What other solutions are there in the US?

While governments attempt to address this issue, numerous non-profits in both India and Chicago have taken on the initiative to provide devices and internet access to schoolchildren. Critically important organizations like Comp-U-dopt, which operates throughout the U.S., help to combat limited access to digital technology by providing youth with digital devices. Not only are these programs vital in combating the inequality that COVID-19 worsens, but they also support equal access to the job market in which technical literacy is increasingly important as the world becomes more and more digital. 

In India

In India, organizations such as Teach For India also work to provide students with devices. Since the pandemic, Teach for India recently received a grant to distribute tablets to 3,000 students which will be placed into a communal digital library for many more students to use when in-person learning resumes. 

Innovative and creative solutions are also being explored.

For example, a greater proportion of students have access to a TV than other devices such as computers or even radios. As a result, organizations like UNICEF have suggested that TVs could be used as a way to provide digital education to students at a large scale. 

As the world of digital learning becomes increasingly important, access to the internet and digital devices must be conceptualized as an integral part of the right to education, otherwise existing inequalities will grow.