E-learning is out of reach for many students from underprivileged backgrounds
Not only is the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affecting people’s health, but it’s also affecting how they study, function, and live. One of the most significant challenges posed by COVID-19 is how to adapt an educational framework based on physical schools. At its height, more than 188 nations, accounting for about 91 percent of the world’s enrolled students, closed their schools to try to stop the virus from spreading. School closures have a significant effect on all students, but especially the most vulnerable, who are more likely to face additional challenges. All has shifted to E-Learning.
Children and youth from low-income and single-parent homes, as well as those from immigrant, refugee, ethnic minority, and Indigenous communities, as well as those with special education needs, are denied physical learning opportunities, social and emotional support in classrooms, and extra resources such as school meals. With the school doors shut, they risk falling further behind and being alienated. If countries do not take appropriate steps to foster educational equality and inclusion, these students are likely to suffer the most in terms of educational performance and school funding.
What we must realise is that if these classes are not held, the child’s brain growth will be hampered. Every day during early childhood, a child’s brain grows. As a result, we cannot afford to miss even one day. Children often want the right kind of stimulus for brain growth, which only teachers can provide. They’ve been taught to provide stimulation that is age-appropriate. For many students, this means that the nearest secondary and higher secondary schools are prohibitively far away — too far to walk, with no accessible and practical transportation options. Dropout rates are often influenced by socio-cultural and economic factors. Young children, for example, are not sent to school because of gender roles, caste, or child labour, as well as pressure on children and adolescents to work and receive, or even negative practises such as child marriages.
It’s worth noting that the issue of justice and equality, which is a pillar of India’s Constitution, is conspicuously absent from all online education narratives. The aim of the Indian Constitution is to provide equal educational opportunities to all people, regardless of caste, class, gender, or religion. Article 29 (1) guarantees equal access to state-run educational institutions without discrimination based solely on religion, ethnicity, caste, or language, or any combination of these factors. Similarly, the Right to Education Act of 2009 requires that all children aged six to fourteen receive an equal and high-quality education. Even people from marginalised communities—whether teachers, students, or parents—have been left to fend for themselves as the government prepares for online learning or plans to restart on-campus schooling after COVID. The government’s obliviousness to the stark realities of socioeconomic inequality, which are proving to be the biggest obstacle to E- Learning, is alarming.
As the situation develops in E-Learning , a more deliberate approach is needed, including representatives from various areas in assessing and sharing their experiences on what worked and what didn’t. It should take into account the issues and solutions that students, parents, and teachers face.
