After One Year Into Online Learning, Recent Data On Digital Divide Is Shocking

Recent data provided by the government in the Lok Sabha on Monday indicated that over 2.96 crore school students across 24 states do not have access to digital devices to access online classes.

Numbers Adding To The Tally

The data was presented in a written response by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to answer a question in the Lok Sabha. The data points that Bihar has the highest number of unequipped students (1.43 crore), and other states such as Jharkhand (35.52 lakh), Karnataka (31.31 lakh) and Assam (31.06 lakh), Uttarakhand (21 lakh) follow behind, reports The Indian Express. Haryana, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu have around 10 lakh such students and Kerala stands at 9.5 lakh.

Exclusions In The Government Data

One must note that this tally of 2.96 crore does not include unequipped students from Delhi, Jammu, and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Chhattisgarh as the data has not been shared yet. States of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Manipur, and Uttar Pradesh are not in the tally as well, since the data is not available and the survey for West Bengal was still underway.

In a report in March 2021, The Indian Express had quoted UNICEF data revealing that 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in India, were affected due to school closures in 2020.

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