Distance learning! 82.6 crore students have no computer at home & 70.6 crore no internet

April 23: The coronavirus pandemic has brought the world to a standstill. The pandemic has also forced educational institutions shut in 191 countries of the world. At a time, when many around the globe are professing to adopt to e-learning, the real picture seems too grim. Over 82.6 crore students under coronavirus lockdown worldwide lack access to a household comouter, including 70.6 crore who have no access to internet at home, the main criteria for distant learning.

The figures are based on data from Unesco’s Institute for Statistics and another UN agency, the International Telecommunication Union. Unesco Director General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement, “We now know that continued teaching and learning cannot be limited to online means. We must also support other alternatives including the use of community radio and television broadcasts, and creativity in all ways of learning.”

Globally, at least 1.5 million students and 63 million primary and secondary teachers are affected by the unprecedented shuttering of schools in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency said. “Even for teachers in countries with reliable information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and household connectivity, the rapid transition to online learning has been challenging,” it added.

Given this scenario, the inclination towards e-learning seems to be a tough job. Any commonsense analysis based on urban understanding of the situation will fail to yield proper conclusion. This applies to online learning also. Moreover, the rural areas in developing countries have such low bandwidth, that any visual transmission there seems to be an utopia.