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DIGITAL INCLUSION
Digital Divide Widens
The current pandemic has forced a transition online. However, e-learning and teleworking have only been accessible to a privileged section of society. It is necessary to ensure that the most vulnerable are not left even further behind.
By Maria Tataki & Dimitris Glynos
May 10, 2020
Globally more than 1.5 billion students have been affected by school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Amidst this unprecedented educational disruption, most schools have resorted to e-learning. However, not all children have been able to continue their education online. According to UNESCO, of all the students currently out of the classroom, 50% or about 830 million do not have access to a computer. One solution
has been platforms built for use on basic mobile phones e.g. Funzi and Ubongo for African families. But, beside the difficulties of using mobile phones for learning, 40%
of students do not have any form of access to the Internet at home.
The digital divide is complicating educators’ efforts to ensure learning continuity. It is also threatening to exacerbate existing inequalities as the lack of access is disproportionately affecting the most disadvantaged. Disparities are particularly evident in low-income countries, with 82% of students in Sub-Saharan Africa unable to go online. Girls are also among the most affected. Globally, they are the least likely to have access to technology. In high-income countries, it is the most disadvantaged children that are plagued by the digital divide. Even in the U.S., nearly one-in-five students between kindergarten and 12th grade do not have computers or sufficiently speedy Web connections. Of these, the majority comes from low-income families and ethnic minorities.
The transition online is not only disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable students, but less privileged workers as well. Teleworking is de facto an option only for a minority at the top of the income spectrum. High earning occupations enable home office, as they do not require -constant- physical presence in the office. Remote interaction and collaboration with the partners, colleagues can be facilitated by modern technology. However, this applies for instance to only 29% of the Americans who according to the World Economic Forum
could continue working from home. In most of the cases this group alongside with those serving the health system and other core functions of the state apparatus are less likely to face job insecurity.
The economic challenges and the restriction orders in public sphere threaten, as the Resolution Foundation
in the UK points out, primarily jobs in low paying sectors that require the physical presence of the customer or audience and performing tasks in close proximity to others. Another research conducted by McKinsey
marks a clear correlation between the risk of facing unemployment
in the current crisis and not having a university degree. Extremely vulnerable are also employees who lack the means or cannot afford the infrastructure to create a workplace in the safety of their homes. In this context, concerns are expressed that social distancing might widen existing disparities in terms of income inequality and wealth distribution.
Social distancing is essential to contain the pandemic. But under no circumstances should it handicap and leave the marginalized members of the community unprotected. To prevent this, providing everyone access to digital infrastructure should constitute our priority. The UK government
is lending laptops to 15 year-old students who did not have one. Egypt has handed free SIM cards to students and has promised to cover the costs of up to a 20% increase in all subscribers' monthly downloads. Thailand
has created a scheme of 10 free gigabytes of data usage for mobile users. These however are short-term solutions that will not put an end to the digital divide. The crisis will soon end but the accelerated digital transition it has put in place will most likely persist.
We must make sure that we sustain our efforts to provide access to all beyond our pandemic response. Unless we rapidly tackle the challenge to bring high-quality, affordable internet access to all we run the risk of a world of increasing inequalities. A world, that will fail to capitalize on its full resources to tackle the challenges ahead, be it climate change or future pandemics. We must not let the opportunities the Internet can offer go unexploited.
Maria Tataki is completing her Master's degree in Economics and Public Policy at the University of Sciences Po Paris specialising in European Affairs. She interned at the International Telecommunication Union as a Junior Policy and Strategy Analyst. In our Institute, she co-heads the planet around Digital Governance & Democracy and oversees governmental relations as Chief Public Policy Officer.
Dimitris Glynos holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Technical University of Berlin and is now pursuing his master’s. In our Institute, he serves as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.
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