‘It’s dangerously destabilizing to have half the world on the cutting edge of technology while the other half struggles non the bare edge of survival’
-William. J. Clinton
Education is the one and only trait of a person which travels along with him in all walks of life. As a uninvited member COVID-19 came to our lives and changed the way we lived our lives. Its is very important to stabilize the Economy of the country, stabilize the employment, stabilize the health sector, defense sector. But there is also a sector which needs attention at very first priority i.e., is Education Although the New Education Policy brings out a lot of improvements to currently being followed system.
There is another special cache to this which is going to be discussed which is Digital divide in schools
Digital divide is the comparison between those with effective access to digital world and those who belong certainly from humble background who are not able to access it.
REASONS FOR INCREASING DIGITAL DIVIDE
Some aspects that influenced in creating digital divide are discussed below:
- On an observation it could be clearly seen that the digital split is now a social issue referring to the gap that exists between individuals who have access to modern accessories and those who lacks the access.
- It indicates the disparities between particular sectors of population and regions at levels of social, economic and other categories.
- The digital divide can exist among on the basis of living environments too like urban and rural parts
TYPES OF DIGITAL DIVIDE
There are numerous types of digital divide some of them are as:
- Gender Divide – India has among the world’s highest gender gaps in access to digital circle. Only 21% Of women in India in comparison to 42% of men are mobile internet users
According to GSMA’s2020 mobile gender gap report 79% of men own a mobile phone while number of women is 63%.
- Urban- Rural Divide – the digital divide between India’s rural and urban areas during lockdown is its not just highlighted in Education but also in telemedicine, e- commerce, banking, e- governance. During the lockdown schools continued through online classrooms.
But as per the report of NSO, most internet accessed homes in cities were 42% whereas in rural India, however, only 15% have access to internet. As per NSO, there is less than 20% Internet penetration, despite the fact that States which has software hubs such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
- Linguistic Digital Divide – Usually more than 80%of the content on the Internet is in English, so states, where people are competent in English are more digitally advanced.
Government Initiative to Bridge Digital Divide in India
- Digital India
Initiative by government to improve internet access in the country was started in 2011, the BharatNet project was launched to connect 0.25 million panchayats through an optical fiber connection and interconnect the India’s villages
PM Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan
It was launched in 2017 to emphasize on digital literacy in rural India by covering 60 million households, seeing the importance of digital literacy, the Supreme Court has declared right to access to the internet as a fundamental right, making it as a part of right to privacy under Article 21 in the Constitution of India.
- National Education Policy, 2020
It aims at “India a global knowledge superpower” which planned for implementing several changes in the education system and emphasizing on digital educations
Here is list of other government schemes which are brought into the picture to improvise the digital reach.
- Internet Saathi Program
- Optical Fiber Network (NOF -N)
- DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing)
- Unnati Project
- Gyandoot
- Digital mobile Library
- E Paatshala
REFERENCES:
- unesco.org
- Byjus
- Times Of India