Nothing better epitomises the imprisonment of education than the plights of students in Jammu and Kashmir during the longest Internet blockade that was imposed, if not steamrolled, after the abrogation of Article 357. Perhaps one could say that the executive’s might engendered the plight of students during those tumultuous months of blockade.
At the outset, let me highlight that the presumption that “Internet accessibility is a fundamental need” is in itself a featherweight proposition, and it hugely undervalues the plethora of opportunities that the Internet has opened before us.
In fact, the word “need” is too mild, which rarely borders around the aphorism of “easy come, easy go.” Not many know that the Supreme Court of India explicitly stated in the Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India and Ors case that access to the Internet is a fundamental right under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.
The Internet has become a sine qua non for students to acquire knowledge, conduct in-depth research, and stay connected with the world. All fields of academia, including the humanities, defence, agriculture, etc., have been conflated with cyberspace. A dimensional analysis of the seminal role played by the Internet would entail that it has become a linchpin of empowerment for people in general and students in particular. The appreciation of the tech tour de force known as the Internet will be fractional if one overlooks its efficacious permeation at a microcosmic level by empowering people to an extent that was unfathomable some decades ago.
The contours of education have drastically changed; it has transcended boundaries at all levels. The digitization of the world has spawned a new decade of learning; it has sparked the much-sought democratisation of education. Research-based education is no longer confined behind the iron curtains of premium institutions, which marketed their exclusivity as a badge of honour for so many decades, thanks to the Internet and broadband connectivity.
The overwhelming preponderance of information has placed us in the catbird seat of knowledge.
John F. Kennedy once said that a rising tide lifts all boats. Perhaps you need a boat to rise with the tide. What does he who doesn’t have a boat do? This is the most germane question that confronts us today. How do we make Internet access more equitable?
A Forbes report said that the Indian ed-tech sector is estimated to reach $10.4 billion by 2025. The burgeoning demand for Edtech start-ups catalysed by the pandemic has made significant inroads into tier-two and tier-three cities in India. Byjus, Unacademy, and others have become the vanguards of digital education, institutionalising personalised learning like never before.
Platforms like YouTube have propounded a fascinating business model for free access to quality content, squelching a shedload of economic and social inequality for students. One of the idiosyncrasies of the Internet that many don’t talk about is that it has broadened our perspective, which has cascading effects on our parents as well. The Internet has incentivized liberal parenting as opposed to conservative parenting.
This can be gauged from the fact that when female learners from poor villages like Kisanganj, which perpetually reels under extreme impecuniosity, aspire to go abroad for higher education, it rarely reflects not only on their audacity of ambition but also their parent’s acquiescence in granting them the latitude to dream big for themselves.
In other words, the Internet has put forth a kaleidoscope of opportunities, heightened competitive learning, and sparked a plausible environment to showcase our talent where we can blazingly display our academic bravura in front of the world.
All these aspects only substantiate the fact that the world has developed a voracious appetite for consuming seamless information, and the threshold is increasing by the day. Therefore, under those circumstances, it’s extremely unfair, if not precarious, to deprive a large chunk of students from utilising this technological marvel to the fullest owing to social disparity or the rural-urban divide.
The digital divides that pervade our society are largely due to a lack of demand and the high cost of data, which merit a collective national endeavour to solve those challenges. Technology itself presents an opportunity to address problems related to Internet access: whether technology can cut down on the cost of 4G devices, reduce the coverage gap, or diffuse higher digital skills among the populace. India has deep syncretic roots and a diversity of cultures and languages.
One major breakthrough that the world witnessed was Google’s language translation capability, built into phones rather than depending on the cloud. With the advancement of artificial intelligence, speech recognition in vernacular languages and its deployment have become easier. Design user interfaces specifically for the illiterate, non-affluent, non-English-speaking students, or for those with disabilities should be built. Notwithstanding the technical challenges, like the high cost of installing satellite or fixed wireless connections, the main impediment to rural connectivity is market failure. The national imperative is to make government work in consonance with regulators in order to make economics work.
In India, there is no national strategy in place to roll out smartphones for students, even though some states have rolled out such schemes in government schools and colleges. A granular analysis of even those schemes would entail that their objective is far from empowering students through connectivity; it is rarely incentivizing education; or else, why would states dole out smartphones to students only in the final years of high school and college?
Although there are technological possibilities to enhance the affordability of data, a free basic tier of data provided by the government should serve as a starting point to scale things up.
A three-pillar model must be in place that would escalate the building of digital infrastructure for students in universities and schools, enhance affordability and access, and make them digitally literate and skilled right from the bottom levels. As for a country plagued by historical social injustice, apart from giving greater subsidies, students belonging to backward communities must be sensitised and enlightened about connectivity through national and state-level campaigns.
The test of our progress, to borrow from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words, is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
As for demand, regulatory environmental roles plays a major role in attracting public and private investment. While most of investment comes from private sector, public investment is equally important to incentivize the private sector to meet that demand. Multilateral development banks must be brought in to work with governments at various levels to stimulate private investment and create the right enabling environment to ensure broadband connectivity.
Therefore, a complete overhaul of policy decisions qua connectivity must be considered at the administrative and governing levels to remain at least on par with, if not ahead of, changing times and realities.
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