I was one of the official reviewers for a global EdTech (education technology) competition. I reviewed over 200 proposals by EdTech companies and startups from literally every corner of the globe. And, the one parameter on which most of them were marked consistently poor was “equity”.
In the equity section, most of the EdTech companies were like:
“The app is totally free of cost.”
“Anyone and everyone can access the platform.”
“The tool is created to help students from different backgrounds get a standard learning experience.”
“The platform is agnostic about the student’s background.”
“The tool is designed to be inclusive of every child.” (Without explaining how.)
Moreover, there were tools that actually did have equitable features. I could figure this out by reading other sections in their proposals, but still, the same wasn’t adequately mentioned in the equity section.
Equity is not just about an app that any student can access freely from any corner of the world via the Google Play Store or App Store. Equity is not about being “background agnostic”. In fact, equity is about recognising that you can’t have a standard learning experience.
Equity is about what extra efforts you took in building your platform, or tool, such that students of different abilities, from different backgrounds, and with differential access to resources can make use of that tool, to its full potential.
Equity is about the child, not about the app!