A New Humanitarian Crisis: The Digital Divide
Inequality is a staple of the global economy. One of the greatest challenges faced across the world is the digital divide, inequality that is exacerbated by a lack of technology and technological resources. The ongoing pandemic has intensified this digital divide to the point where it stands to become one of the greatest humanitarian crises.
Source: UNESCO
Inequality is a staple of the global economy. One of the greatest challenges faced across the world is the digital divide, or inequality that is exacerbated by a lack of technology and technological resources. This divide has been especially prominent in poorer areas of even developed countries, as well as in developing regions of the world like Sub-Saharan Africa or India. In such areas, the lack of technological resources means that many young children and adolescents lack the tools for an education that could have helped transition them out of a generational cycle of poverty. The ongoing pandemic has exacerbated this digital divide to the point where it stands to become one of the greatest humanitarian crises.
Lack of technological access across the globe is nothing new. India, which has the second-largest schooling system, already had 32 million children out of school before the pandemic — the majority of them belonging to socially disadvantaged classes. Moreover, less than 15% of rural Indian households have access to the internet, in contrast to the 42% in urban households. In one study, only about 13% — and 8.5% of women —of people above the age of 5 living in a rural household could use the internet. Gender inequality is particularly severe in vulnerable households, as girls must take on increased domestic roles due to either lack of online education or prioritization of education for boys. Unfortunately, wealth inequality also exacerbates educational inequalities. In low-income countries, on average 46% of resources are allocated to the top 10% of students in secondary education. However, this statistic is not limited to “developing countries”, and is prevalent even in “developed countries”. In 2015, the US federal education department issued a report showing how the funding gap between rich and poor schools grew 44 percent within a decade. Additionally, the poorest 25% of school districts in the US received, on average, $1500 per student less than the richest 25% of school districts.
The ongoing pandemic has exacerbated educational inequity across the board, the effect of which is incredibly detrimental. Nearly 224 million children worldwide have been out of school, 79 million being pre-primary to secondary school age. At least 463 million school children, or 31% of the worldwide total, cannot be reached by the digital and remote broadcast learning programs created to balance school closures. Sub-Saharan Africa in particular has the largest rate of students who cannot be reached due to the digital divide. In India, over 320 million students have been adversely affected by the pandemic and the transition to e-learning has resulted in huge regional and household disparities with regard to technology and internet access.
The effects of the pandemic on the ever-widening digital divide must be taken seriously. The impact due to lack of proper schooling is significant not only because education provides an escape from a generational cycle of poverty, but also because schools are a vital source of stability for many communities. School closures have rendered children vulnerable to poor nutrition levels, stress, violence/exploitation, and issues of mental development. In Eastern and Southern Africa, UNICEF found that violence rates against children have risen, while nutrition rates have fallen with over 10 million children unable to access school meals. For girls living in low-income households, pregnancy rates have skyrocketed, and it is predicted that 13 million child marriages may occur in the next decade that would not have happened without the pandemic; gender-based violence will grow as well. According to modeling done by the World Bank, school closures in sub-Saharan Africa could lead to a lifetime earnings loss of $4500 per child. Moreover, even for students who are able to continue their education, their learning goals have been dramatically disrupted and such students collectively stand to lose over $10 trillion in lifetime labor earnings. In general, roughly 66 million children could find themselves in extreme poverty due to the pandemic, adding to the 386 million children already in poverty as of 2019.
There is clearly a humanitarian crisis at stake, one that has been pushed to the side as countries try to focus on revitalizing businesses and the economy. According to data from UNESCO, since the outbreak of the pandemic, $11.8 trillion has been allocated to stimulus packages to combat economic downturn, with less than 1% of this being spent on mitigating the effects of educational losses. Slashed budgets could mean that aid to education will fall by more than $2 billion by 2022, which would take years to recover from. However, education is the bedrock of society. Without increased investment in the digitization of education and providing access to technology and the internet in rural and impoverished areas, the gap between the wealthy and poor will only continue to grow. The effects of educational inequity will manifest themselves in exacerbated gender disparities and wealth inequality, and likely the disintegration of basic human rights, especially in violence-prone countries. However, the pandemic provides an opportunity for the problems of educational equity that existed even prior to being partially resolved, and it allows governments to take steps in the right direction to correct the wrongs of the past.