new Delhi. According to a study conducted on school students, about 56 percent of children do not have a smartphone, while it has emerged as an essential tool for ‘e-learning’ during lockdown. The study was conducted on 42,831 school students.
The study titled ‘Scenario Between Kovid-19: Ground Situation and Possible Solution’ has been done by Smile Foundation, a non-governmental organization working on child rights issues. The purpose of this study is to analyze the availability of technology.
The results of the study show that 43.99 percent of the children surveyed have smartphones available and the other 43.99 percent of students have basic phones available, while 12.02 percent have neither of these phones available. The study said that a total of 56.01 percent children do not have smartphones.
It said that it has been mentioned about TV that 31.01 percent children do not have TV at home. In this way it shows that just using a smartphone for the learning process is not the only solution. The study was conducted on students from class 1 to class 12.
The study was carried out over a period of 12 days between 16 and 28 April in 23 states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana.
Significantly, schools and colleges are closed during the lockdown implemented since March 25 to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection. For this reason, these institutions have turned to online platform for teaching work and reading activities. According to official figures there are more than 35 crore students in the country. However, it is unclear how many of them have digital devices or internet access. Shantanu Mishra, co-founder of Smile Foundation, said the results of the study clearly show that the ‘digital divide’ is a real challenge and that various steps need to be taken across the nation to bridge it.