The Great Divide - Eastern Mirror
Friday, March 29, 2024
image
Editorial

The Great Divide

6113
By The Editorial Team Updated: Nov 18, 2021 11:19 pm

Besides loss of lives, untold mental stress and disruption of economic and social life for more than a year now, the Covid-19 pandemic has left both parents and children worried due to prolonged learning loss. Students preparing for competitive exams were unsure of their future with no signs of recruitment for months, while those in schools and colleges had lost out considerably on learning. The shift to online learning has badly affected children, especially those from rural areas and poor families. This triggered debates and discussions on the digital divide. Though much has been talked about this divide, chiefly caused by lack of gadgets to access online classes and slow or no internet connection, the underlying reason for this mess is economic disparity and unbalanced infrastructure development. Distribution of gadgets like smartphones and laptops to children from poor families will no doubt help the beneficiaries but it is not a permanent solution. Children from economically weaker sections of society will continue to be affected by the digital divide long after the battle against the Covid pandemic is over because educational institutions could continue to use technology in one way or the other in imparting knowledge to students. This calls for the need to treat the disease and not the symptom.

The digital divide is just one of the consequences of economic inequality, so the gap between the haves and have-nots needs to be bridged. With the pandemic exposing the economic vulnerability of many states, governments, including that of Nagaland have been emphasising on self-sufficiency. Of late, the state government has been stressing on the need to boost entrepreneurship and agriculture to mitigate the growing unemployment rate and to improve the income of the people. The concerned department had shared its plan to increase production of a few crops including coffee in the state. It’s an encouraging move. However, it should reach far corners of the state and not be concentrated in a few pockets. Both the Centre and state governments should take all-encompassing policy decisions to uplift both the urban and rural poor. In the meantime, efforts to increase agricultural production and income of the rural population will prove futile if basic infrastructures like road, communication system, electricity, internet, etc. are sidelined. So, governments should set its priorities right to address these key issues.

It is also common knowledge that education in the state is driven by economic well-being. There is visible disparity in how the rich and the poor learn. While most private educational institutions charge hefty fees beyond the reach of the poor, majority of government schools and colleges in rural areas are plagued by either shortage of staff or proxy teaching. This leaves children from poor families in a fix, often resulting in dropout. To arrest this perpetual issue, which is the root cause of achievement gap among the students, the government should take bold steps to ensure that schools provide quality education. A digital divide will exist until educational, economic, and infrastructural disparities are addressed.

6113
By The Editorial Team Updated: Nov 18, 2021 11:19:51 pm
Website Design and Website Development by TIS