Crores of Indian students not online, missing education

The story: Pandemic has been bad for the crores of Indian students who do not have access to digital devices and the internet.

 Crores of Indian students not online, missing education

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• The story: Pandemic has been bad for the crores of Indian students who do not have access to digital devices and the internet.
• States report horrifying figures: Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh reported over 0.55 m children who are out of school each while Rajasthan has identified over 1.8 lakh such children. Bihar counted 14 million children without access to digital devices. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir reported that nearly 70% children have no access to devices while Jharkhand and Karnataka has over 3 million children without device access. This data was shared by the Union education ministry with the Parliamentary standing committee on Education, Women & Children, Youth & Sports.
• Out of school: Equally worrying is the number of children who are out of school. Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have reported over 0.55 m children who are out of school each while Rajasthan has identified over 1.8 lakh such children. The data was shared as part of the ministry’s response on efforts at “bridging the learning gap caused due to the school lockdown”.
• Second running year: The data on the digital divide and school drop out rate comes amid a second consecutive academic session that had to be started via the online mode across states and schools. While all states are yet to submit their final data for Covid-19 documentation being done by the Union education ministry, the picture so far has been deeply worrying. Assam, Jharkhand and Karnataka have identified that 31 lakh, 32.5 lakh and 31.3 lakh students, respectively, have no access to devices. The figure is a staggering 1.4 crore for Bihar. Odisha has counted 15 lakh such students while Haryana has identified 10 lakh students without devices.
• More data: In terms of aspirational districts, Wayanad in Kerala (Rahul Gandhi’s constituency) has the highest percentage of access to digital devices at 100% followed by Kadapa (99%) district in Andhra Pradesh. Rayagada (47%) district of Odisha has the lowest percentage of students who access any mode of digital education. On the other end of the spectrum are Kerala and Rajasthan –– in both states all students have access to a device.
• Summary: There is a silent crisis brewing in India, as young school children (in crores) are missing out on education, nutrition and a nurturing environment. There is an urgent need for governmental interventions of a very high magnitude, if the long-lasting demographic disadvantages that will flow from this, are to be contained.

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