THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 10 September 2020 Digital disconnect: On online learning and digital divide(The Hindu)

Digital disconnect: On online learning and digital divide(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level: Online learning systems
Mains level: E-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

Context:

The full report of the NSO’s survey of ‘Household Social Consumption on Education in India’, for July 2017-June 2018, highlights the poor state of computer and Internet access in several States.

Net access:

The disparitiesare glaringamong different economic strata as well.
The digital chasm that separates the privileged from the deprived remains unbridged years after the broadband policy of 2004, and its effects are painfully evident during the pandemic as students struggle to log on to online classes.
While some poorly connected States may have improved since the survey period, the gaps are so stark that any development could only be modest.
Only in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala did the survey find Internet access exceeding 50% for urban and rural households taken together, while Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand exceeded 40%, unimpressive numbers still.
Large States — Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka — had access below 20%.
In today’s milieu, net access is critical, considering that even where mobile phones and laptops are available — some States provide them under student welfare programmes — they cannot be meaningfully used in its absence.
If net connectivity is 5% to 10% in rural Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and West Bengal, only a slim minority can hope to do any academic work.
Many remote locations have reliability problems and power deficits, making it a challenge to keep gadgets operational even offline.

Raising administrative qualities:

Prime Minister has acknowledged the digital divide by announcing in his Independence Day address that all villages would be connected with optical fibre cable in 1,000 days.
This target, reflecting enhanced ambition, follows the one set in 2011 to link panchayats through a national optical fibre network — to raise administrative capacities through information infrastructure.
Evidently, successive governments have dropped the ball. States have not shown the alacrityto make a big leap either, and the deficit has now dealt a blow to students.
To make up for lost time, connectivity for education must be prioritised.
Mapping the needs of each district based on the NSO data will help identify areas where children do need equipment and connectivity.
Such efforts have been launched globally in the wake of COVID-19, some in partnership with the telecom sector to leverage its capacity for surveys and mapping.
Some companies in India have made the valuable suggestion that their used desktop computers could be refurbishedand donated, for which governments need to open a programme.
On the network technology front, a new gigabit speed ‘wireless fibre’ standard is being viewed in developed countries as a leapfrog option to link inaccessible areas.
Wireless fibre involves high capacity spectrum (E and V bands), and is commercially not contentious.
The government needs to look at all possibilities and go into overdrive to bridge the digital divide.

Conclusion:

Poor access to the Internet in many States must be bridged urgently to help e-learners.
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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the road accidents data released by the National Crime Records Bureau, consider the following statements:

1. The rate of road accident deaths per thousand vehicles in India is 61, while the global rate as per the WHO Report is 64.
2. In the national capital, Delhi, deaths in cases of road accidents have seen a major decline from 1,734 to 1,508.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C