Indian education can’t go online – only 8% of homes with young members have computer with net link.

As an immediate measure to control the spread of Covid-19, most educational institutions have been shut since the end of March. It is still difficult to predict when schools, colleges and universities will reopen. There are few options other than to shift to digital platforms from the traditional face-to-face mode of classroom learning.

Teachers and school administrators have been advised to continue communication with students through virtual lectures or portals like Massive Open Online Courses. However, in the absence of physical classrooms and proper digital infrastructure, both teachers and students are facing unprecedented challenges.

The major challenge of remote learning is disparity in access – from electricity and internet connections to devices like computer or smartphones.

Access to electricity is crucial for digital education, both for powering devices as well as for connecting to the internet. While the government’s Saubhagya scheme to provide electricity to households shows that almost 99.9% of homes India have a power connection, the picture is less luminous if we look at the quality of electricity and the number of hours for which it is available every day.

Mission Antyodaya, a nationwide survey of villages conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development in 2017-’18, showed that 16% of India’s households received one to eight hours of electricity daily, 33% received 9-12 hours, and only 47% received more than 12 hours a day.

While a computer would be preferable for online classes, a smartphone could also serve the purpose. However, the phone might be convenient for apps, but not for carrying out lengthy assignments or research. While 24% Indians own a smartphone, only 11% of households possess any type of computer, which could include desktop computers, laptops, notebooks, netbooks, palmtops or tablets.

According to the 2017-’18 National Sample Survey report on education, only 24% of Indian households have an internet facility. While 66% of India’s population lives in villages, only a little over 15% of rural households have access to internet services. For urban households, the proportion is 42%.

In fact, only 8% of all households with members aged between five and 24 have both a computer and an internet connection. It is also useful to note that as per the National Sample Survey definition, a household with a device or internet facility does not necessarily imply that the connection and devices are owned by the household.

The digital divide is evident across class, gender, region or place of residence. Among the poorest 20% households, only 2.7% have access to a computer and 8.9% to internet facilities. In case of the top 20% households, the proportions are 27.6% and 50.5%.

The difference is apparent across states too. For example, the proportion of households with access to a computer varies from 4.6% in Bihar to 23.5% in Kerala and 35% in Delhi.

The difference is starker in case of internet access. In states like Delhi, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand, more than 40% households have access to internet. The proportion is less than 20% for Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

The gender divide in internet usage is also stark. As per the Internet and Mobile Association of India report, in 2019, while 67% men had access to internet, this figure was only at 33% for women. The disparity is more prominent in rural India, where the figures are 72% and 28% for men and women, respectively.

If the governments continue online education without necessary supportive measures, the prevailing disparity in the virtual world could translate into widening educational inequalities among learners.

Merely moving classrooms online would not mean effective remote learning. One-to-one interactions among peers and teachers are very important for learning. On a digital platform, how students learn and communicate with others is largely dependent on the readiness of both teachers and students to accept digital learning. In the case of distance education, the onus of learning is more on students, which requires discipline.

There are challenges for teachers too. Not only are many of them digitally inept, a large number of teachers have never used an online environment to teach. Teaching a course online course ideally requires preparation, such as designing a lesson plan and preparing teaching materials such as audio and video contents. This has posed new challenges for many teachers.

Learning demands a conducive environment for study. However, not all students have a quiet space for learning at home. While 37% of households in India have one dwelling room, it would be a luxury for many to attend lectures in an undisturbed environment.

Having online classes on a regular basis has a cost implication too, as students have to bear the cost of internet services. There is no communication yet from governments on whether it is going to reimburse students or will provide free or subsidized data packs. In the current situation, many students, especially those whose families have lost income as a result of a lockdown-related job loss, will not be able to afford this.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed how rooted structural imbalances are between rural and urban, male and female, rich and poor, even in the digital world. With the existing digital divide, expanding online education will push the digital have-nots to the periphery of the education system, thereby increasing inequity in educational outcomes.

The Truth About Why You Aren’t Learning Anything in Your Online Classes

1. There’s no teacher/student eye contact. Even when you do get to interact with the instructor in an online environment, it’s usually via a webinar. And all you get to do is type a comment into the chat box (if you’re there when the thing is done live). People underestimate the power of eye contact in building a relationship. And online instructors especially need to think about this stuff if they want their students to engage with them and the course materials. Eye contact keeps us accountable. It’s an unspoken method of saying I’m here. I’m showing up — for you and myself. I’m committed. It’s hard to blow off your instructor once you’ve looked them in the eye.

2. There are too many distractions. Being online is a rabbit hole for most of us. The constant desire to check one’s email or see what’s new on Facebook makes it difficult at best to focus on learning. Only the most disciplined of us will shut down the other windows and concentrate just on the work in front of us. In a real classroom, most of us would be embarrassed to be seen checking our email during a class discussion. (Yes, it does happen, but not as often as it does during an online meeting.) I admit I’m just as guilty of this as the next person. But if we aren’t fully present and focused during a class meeting, nothing that’s said will stick.

3. There’s no requirement to participate. When you sign up for most online courses — whether they’re delivered on-demand or not — nobody asks you to leave if you don’t participate. In fact, nobody even notices or cares if you don’t show up for a discussion. You could be dead on the side of the road for all they know…as long as you paid your fee, you’re in. And if it’s an on-going membership type thing, they’ll happily take your money until you shut it off. Kind of like that gym membership you once had.

4. There’s no small group work or buddy system. In college courses, you always found it slightly annoying when the professor/faculty would have us work together on a project. You didn’t fully appreciate then the power of collaborative learning. It did so many things in one fell swoop: added another layer of accountability; allowed stronger students to help mentor the weaker ones; pushed folks beyond their comfort zone, allowing them to develop leadership skills, and more.

5. There’s not enough critical thinking. Many online courses promise to teach you someone’s “blueprint” or “roadmap.” Just follow these step-by-step instructions and you, too, will create a 6-figure business in just 90 days! The instructor rarely asks you to think about their process as a starting point. To ask questions like, Will this work for my audience and my business? If we aren’t encouraged to ask questions, we don’t really learn anything. Just as a paint-by-numbers painting won’t get you very far in the art market, a paint-by-numbers marketing system will just help you look like everyone else. NOT the best way to stand out from the crowd.