ICT Tools & Digital Intervals

04 Aug 2022 ICT Tools & Digital Intervals

• Recently the Education Minister informed the Lok Sabha that less than 10% of schools in at least 10 states of India are equipped with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment or digital equipment.

ICT Equipment:

• ICT tools for teaching and learning range from digital infrastructure like printers, computers, laptops, tablets etc. to software tools like Google Meet, Google Spreadsheet etc.
• It refers to all communication technologies that are tools to access, retrieve, store, transmit and modify information digitally.
• ICT is also used to refer to the convergence of telephone networks with media technologies such as audio-visual and computer networks through an integrated system of cabling (including signal distribution and management) or link systems.
• Although given that the concepts, methods and tools involved in ICT are constantly evolving on an almost daily basis, there is no universally accepted definition of ICT.

Digital Interval:

• It is the difference between demographics and areas with and without access to modern information and communication technology (ICT).
• It exists between developed and developing countries, urban and rural populations, young and educated versus older and less educated individuals, men and women.
• The urban-rural divide is the biggest factor in the digital gap in India.

Situation:

• A study conducted by the Azim Premji Foundation in 2021 showed that almost 60% of school children in India cannot access online learning opportunities.
• An Oxfam India study found that parents of students from urban private schools reported problems with internet signal and speed.

Influence:

 Reasons for Dropout and Child Labour:

• Children belonging to the ‘Economically Weaker Sections’ [EWS]/Deprived Groups [DG] are facing the consequences of not completing their education, as well as the lack of access to the Internet and computers in the meantime.
• Those children have also become vulnerable to child labor or child trafficking.

Lack of quality education:

• It will deprive people of high/quality education and skill training which can help them to contribute to the economy and be a guiding leader at the global level.

Fostering unfair competition:

• They will remain deprived of important information submitted online regarding education and thus they will always be left behind, which can be expressed in the form of poor performance.
• Thus fostering unfair competition between students who are able to access the Internet and those who are less privileged.

Learning Inequality:

• People from lower socio-economic classes are disadvantaged and they have to go through long hours of cumbersome study to fulfill the objectives of the course.
• Whereas the rich can easily access schooling material online and work on their programs instantly.

Constitutional Provision for Right to Education

• Article 45 and Article 39 (f) of Part-IV (Directive Principles of State Policy -DPSP) of the original Indian Constitution made provision for equal and accessible education funded by the state.
• Right to education was included as a fundamental right in Part-III of the Constitution by the 86th Constitutional Amendment in the year 2002.
• It was included under Article 21A, which made the right to education for 6-14 year olds a fundamental right.
• It provided for a follow-up law, the Right to Education Act, 2009.

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