Shocking Facts Revealed by Education Ministry Report

The education ministry report released by the Union Ministry of Education; Government of India revealed shocking facts about the digital divide in India. 

The recent survey report by the Union Ministry of Education shows that the digital divide has hit some states disproportionately hard due to the pandemic situations. Due to the lack of adequate availability of smartphones and television sets there has been a severe digital divide between the schools and school going students.

The reports show that nearly 70% of the school-going children in seven large states – Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand do not have access to digital devices. This has created a huge gap between the schools and the children that further worsened in the Covid 19 pandemic situation. 

Some of the findings based on the reports of the seven states facing digital divide are

Assam: 

• The state reported nearly 3,10,6255 students with no digital devices among the 7,01,5898 students across 65,907 schools. 

• To address this issue the state education department organised home visits by teachers, and launched a toll-free helpline for students to clear academic doubts and address psycho-social issues.

Andhra Pradesh: 

• Nearly about 2,01,568 students have no cell phone access and parents of 10.22 lakh have phones that can only make calls

• Neary about 4.57 lakh students have access to phones but they do not have access to mobile data

• Nearly about 3.88 lakh students don’t have access to Television and other media appliances

• In an attempt to address this issue the state has distributed 2,850 laptops and 18,270 tablets as at present only 5,752 students in the state have laptops

Bihar: 

• Nearly 1.43 crore children have no access to digital devices. 

• To address this issue with the assistance of UNICEF, the state provided mobile vans equipped with TV, videos and other multimedia equipments

• Further the activities like math games and toys were distributed across seven districts, with special focus on Mahadalit/Mushahar communities.

Gujarat:

• The UNICEF survey of 12,000 schools found that 40% of the students did not have access to smartphones and Internet. 

• To address this issue the state government distributed blended learning modules and launched an IVRS helpline. 

• The state government also provided around 11,200 devices to the students and 40,000 to the teachers to bridge the gap caused due to digital divide

Jharkhand: 

• Out of 74.89 lakh students, nearly 32.52 lakh do not have digital access. 

• To address this issue the state informed the centre and the tablets have been provided to schools and cluster resource centres

• Further, the state tied up with UNICEF to develop modules of home-based learning and started mohalla schools in remote areas.

Madhya Pradesh: 

• The education department survey of 98 lakh of the state’s 1.57 crore students found that nearly 70% of them do not have access to smartphones. 

• The state organised various programmes like mohalla classes and regular teacher-parent interactions over the phone to address the issue

• The state also started the radio school programme immediately after the national lockdown.

Uttarakhand: 

• The State authorities found that nearly 2.14 lakh do not have access to digital devices for online learning. 

• To address the issue the state distributed more than 35,000 Ebooks to school students and tried to bridge this gap of digital divide

• The state also attempted community outreach to keep in touch with such students, distribute worksheets among them and also took the help of community radio in five districts.

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