It has been a strange and difficult year by all modern standards. With the onset of COVID-19, governments forced their citizens indoors, bosses asked their employees not to come to work, and principals told their students not to go to school. 

Despite these restrictions, childhood education is something that simply cannot be halted, which makes online education more important than ever. The topic of internet connectivity and access to electronic devices has never before been at the heart of education like it has in 2020, and what we are witnessing can be perceived as a learning revolution of sorts. 

The gap in online accessibility has become a crucial differentiator between those who can continue their learning, and those who cannot. Developing countries have undoubtedly been impacted the most by this transition to online learning. This is largely due to the fact that the rural populations simply lack accessibility and resources to attend classes. 

According to the World Economic Forum, one third of all children in rural China do not have access to online education, compared to just 5.7 per cent of children in urban areas. The implications of this rural-urban gap may not become immediately apparent, but we can expect to see a generation of children who will have significant portions of their education disrupted. 

The top three most ‘disconnected’ countries by population are India, China, and Pakistan. Together, they are home to 1.4 billion people with no access to the internet. According to UNESCO, as of September 23, 850 million children and teenagers—half of which are actively enrolled in school—were not undergoing any form of education or training due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Take a minute to digest that number and its implications. This is a massive percentage of the world’s population, predominantly from the global south, who have had to put their developmental years and formative education on hold. This will inevitably result in the widening of socioeconomic inequalities and loss of access to jobs and opportunities. 

The repercussions stemming from this lack of accessibility are driving students to desperation. In Punjab, the reported suicide of a 17 year-old student was attributed to her inability to access her online classes. As farm labourers, her family was unable to afford a mobile phone which she could use to attend classes. In China’s Henan province, another teenage girl reportedly committed suicide due to her inability to attend her online classes since her family shared a single mobile phone.

Any obstacle of this magnitude must come with innovative solutions. As witnessed with natural disasters such as the 2004 tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and, more recently, the COVID-19 lockdowns, it is often locals on the frontlines who are actively trying to bridge any gaps in society which are not addressed by governmental or international relief agencies. In Bangalore, India, the non-profit Parikrma Humanity Foundation has tried to alleviate the learning gap in the city’s slums. Their solution was to provide a blended learning approach, in which they donated hundreds of smart phones and conducted “mini-classes” in some designated homes. The outcome was promising, with the organization registering a 90 per cent attendance rate for the majority of their classes.

Despite these solutions and other instances of limited success, the pandemic has only widened existing societal inequalities. Online learning has proven to be a poor substitute for in-person learning, especially among low-income families. The gap in learning and access to schooling between the rich and poor will be reflected in performance when students return to school. 

For some families severely impacted by the COVID-19 lockdowns, their children may never return to school in the same capacity as before. The global pandemic, while altering society in an unprecedented way, has impacted crucial years of development for an entire generation of children. 

As society adapts to this new reality, the most important question one can ask themselves now is: what can be done? Although large scale policy decisions will be needed to meet the challenge of COVID-19, sometimes small donations to organizations like Parikrama Humanity can also make the difference between life or death.