Education Digital Access Needs To Be Equitable

Now the time is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for the children of Bangladesh using education technology and maximizing innovation and engagement. The Sangsad Television started telecasting recorded classes for the learners of class 6 to 10 since April 29 as per the decision of the Ministry of Education. About 50 million students have been confined to home since March 17. Of them, more than 18 million are primary level students and about 12 million belong to secondary level. The ministry has triggered the whole affair and a2i, BRAC Education, 10 Minutes Schools, Cambrian School and College outside government education bodies have lined up to establish an accessible and innovative mode of class delivery at this Corona virus pandemic that has engulfed the entire globe. Definitely, the initiative will not go unchallenged as it is first of its kind in Bangladesh to bring ninety percent students under this umbrella.
The impact of Covid-19 restrictions might go beyond affecting classroom learning as school closures limit children’s interaction with others, playing in the field, moving freely and coming into contact with teachers and enjoying overall school environment. Such a situation could potentially lead to stigma or prejudice. Students don’t have usual movement, sharing environment with their classmates, normal breathing and playing space. These forced restrictions exert serious effect on their body and mind leading to mental agony. Psychologists and teachers dealing with counseling suggest that guardians should give importance to children’s usual sleep, managing some indoor games, reading story books, watching other programs on TV to keep their mental health sound.
There lies reason to believe that suitable televised content can provide some help and relief to the students confined to their respective homes. The idea of virtual classroom has become a buzzword for long at least in papers though not in practical, in the arena of education. Its real application, however, did not appear even in the big cities let alone rural areas. The current unprecedented situation has prompted the authorities to show educational innovation which has come in the form of televised instructions for the learners though it cannot be claimed the precise alternative to usual classes where face to face interaction plays a greater role to develop socialization and confidence. This very recent televised class’s keep ample room for rural teachers to develop their style of teaching that can be uplifted to a quite satisfactory level by observing the classes keenly. Receiving and giving feedback for professional development has not yet developed in our educational field.
Many educational institutions (school, college and private universities) located in urban areas have started online classes but the quality of this sort of learning heavily depends on the level and quality of digital access. Only around 60% of the globe’s population is online that must be even narrower than this in our country and it precisely surfaces the limitation to use this device for a big number of students particularly in the rural and slum areas. Leaving the rest forty percent people who stand away from the online benefits tells us almost half of the leaners will be left out of the alternative classes. When classes are conducted online, these children lose out because of the cost of digital devices and data plans. It unfolds that unless access costs decrease and quality of access increase in all countries, the gap in education quality will further be widened and thus socioeconomic equality will be further exacerbated. The crisis also casts a light on deep inequalities not just in who has devices and bandwidth, who has the skills to self-direct their learning, and whose parents have the time to spend helping are fundamentally important. Bangladesh stands fourth in this list with about fifty million students who get confined to homes without going to schools and China stands first with more than twenty three million children. Indonesia and Pakistan occupies second and third positions respectively. Online and /or televised classes pose as the known and easier options for these children to get engaged in learning.
Learning poverty is a new measure introduced by the World Bank to measure the number of children who by age ten cannot read a simple text. Today, a shocking 89% of children in low-income countries fail this test. Current projections show that by 2030 under a business-as-usual scenario this rate will only fall to 43%. This is too long to wait and it incites us to think for an alternative because the long confinement to home will further aggravate the academic and psychological situation of the learners.
In Bangladesh numerous children in low-income contexts do not have television access at home and might be prevented from watching programs at other locations due to social distancing measures. However, it remains the case that educational television shows could mitigate the adverse effects of school closure for many who can access television technology. Policymakers should, therefore, seek to increase the delivery of educational television shows in low-income areas of the country. The immediate accessibility of television means that it has the potential to benefit many out-of-school children. School closures due to Covid-19 have already occurred in multiple low-income countries, some evidences say it is in 185 countries, and this is likely to happen increasingly often over the coming days.
Coronavirus has posed a potential threat to the entire humanity and the powerful and rich states have become frightened and helpless to the unseen and hidden virus. Still they can manage their children’ education while they have been staying at homes, for their digital device is sound and a greater number of students have access to it. We cannot, however, ensure it for all of our students at this moment but we believe that high-quality education and technology have the power to change the world by developing the human talent required to seize the opportunities that arise from global change. In the process of education transformation, facilitates collaboration, accommodates for different learning styles, increases engagement and excitement among students, helps maximize institutional resources, and improves learning outcomes. It is now up to us to responsibly adopt the available technologies meant for teaching in distance mode, guiding our students on how to best profit from them and contributing to the development of the appropriate skill sets that will help them fulfill their role as global citizens of the 21st century. Finally, those who still stand beyond this network must be brought under the purview of inclusive and equitable quality education endevour individually, socially, institutionally and definitely nationally together.
(Masum Billah Works for BRAC Education Program and is Vice President: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association. Email:masumbillah65@gmail.com)