Everyone is adjusting to the reality of the covid-19 pandemic by finding alternatives to online learning these days. While students in the cities are equipped with mobile phones, tablets and laptops, many students and teachers in rural areas are not able to match up to the technical skills and training of cities.
Students are relying on strong internet connections, computers and smartphones for their new normal. As our country adopts online education, the current pandemic is impacting rural students bitterly.
While many are bringing about the most of what online learning offers, local authorities are finding it hard to integrate high-speed internet facilities. Moreover, people in rural areas have to also deal with irregular power supply and older electronic devices, which are often an obstacle to seamless access. Many of the students may be forced to use their parent's old mobiles, due to the lack of availability of smartphones as well as money for them. Using this small screen for long hours may also affect their health badly.
Poor infrastructure, lack of strong internet connection and electricity, lack of safety and many such issues are still needed to be addressed in remote village areas for effective access to quality education to students. We can aid in improving online learning in rural areas by providing free or used(good conditioned) smartphones and laptops, donating books, and by doing volunteer programs for them. Since rural areas aren't always given the fastest broadband connections and many other internet service providers don’t cover rural areas, satellite internet may be the reasonable way to gain high-speed access to the web. Many of these kids live in poor conditions and are subjected to violence and helplessness in their families and societies. So it is our duty to build self-empowerment and resilience to their harsh life circumstances.
However, the government has taken several initiatives to improve the level of education via technology in rural villages there is still a long way to go.