In the past two years, education has gone from being offline to online. But a large number of students don't have access to digital devices. This is not some quote or report from an individual or private organisation. It is a report prepared by the Union Ministry of Education that has recorded the responses, challenges faced by children during the COVID-19 pandemic to attend online classes.
According to this report, up to 70 per cent school children in seven states including Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand don't have access to digital devices. The report also states that different initiatives by the school education sector in 2020-21 showcases digital divide. While some kids have coped up with the online classes with the availability of digital devices like smart phone, televisions, others haven't been able to attend the online classes. It is strange and unusual to see that data remains absent from states including Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal while Rajasthan's data shows that it doesn't have students without digital access.
Among all the states, Madhya Pradesh has 70 per cent of students without digital access followed by Bihar with 58.09%, Andhra Pradesh 57%, Assam 44.24%, Jharkhand 43.42%, Uttarakhand 41.17% and Gujarat 40%. Among the better placed states and UTs are Delhi with around 4% students without access, Kerala 1.63%, Tamil Nadu 14.51%.
This report was prepared based on the data provided by 22 states and seven union territories. However, states like Tamil Nadu have mentioned that they have distributed around 5.15 lakh laptops among students and 42 smart phones by the Bihar Government.