This Article is written by Nishka Kapoor of NALSAR
Under Article 21 (A), the Indian Constitution provides education rights to its citizens, stating that the state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children aged six to fourteen. This provision was added under Article 21 to provide at least elementary education to all citizens of the country, and thus it makes elementary education a Fundamental Right rather than higher education. The provision was added to the Constitution by the 86th Amendment in 2002; previously, the provision for free and compulsory education for all children was found in Article 45 of Part IV of the constitution; it was not a fundamental right, but rather a Directive Principle of State Policy.
The world has advanced and has turned to technology for the majority of their work, and this dependence has increased more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology advancement has made things easier, and as a result, institutions' operations continued even during the pandemic, but it has also created many barriers for people who do not have access to basic technology.
India has been one of the countries hardest hit by COVID-19. The pandemic in India has had a major impact on all arenas of human life, one of the most important area that was affected by the pandemic is education in India. According to a survey by UNICEF about 247 million primary and secondary students in India were out of school. Schools in India made numerous efforts to provide quality education to students through online means; however, the impact of not having access to online studies resulted in poor socioeconomic wellbeing of students, with the impact being felt most acutely among students from lower-income families.
The access to EdTech (Education Technology) is different for different countries. Developed countries had easier access to quality EdTech than developing and underdeveloped countries, and not only between the countries but there were differences in technological access even within the countries, with some states having better technology access while some states had poor access.
For instance, in India, southern states have comparatively better access to technology in the field of education than other states. This is because, even before the pandemic, they adapted to e-teaching, such as the use of smartboards, laptops, and so on, to a greater extent than most of the country's states.
India has the world’s second-largest education (school) system, after China, and the shutting down of schools to curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease has had a severe impact on the education of vulnerable students. The pandemic has not only created educational inequality but have also widened the existing disparities in society, such as during the pandemic many girls were forced to leave school, which existed even before the pandemic.
E-learning as the name suggests relies on the accessibility and availability of technology and electricity; Ministry of Rural Development conducted a survey in 2017-18 and found out that only 47% of Indian households receive electricity for more than 12 hours and more than 36% of schools operate without electricity, this shows that people from underprivileged backgrounds are likely to suffer because of their lack of education and inaccessibility to technology and low education. This will become a problem for them in getting quality education during the pandemic whereas people from good background and those who have basic education and are tech-savvy would be able to bridge the transition to the e-learning ‘new normal’.
A case was recently filed in Delhi High Court regarding this major concern of underprivileged children not having the access to online school, because of many factors such as no proper device to support online schooling, lack of technological knowledge and forced withdrawal from school. The Delhi High Court directed the government and private schools to provide optimal equipment and internet package to its students from underprivileged and disadvantaged background, so that their studies are not hindered and they can access online school.
The Supreme Court bench in a significant order, reiterated the necessity of providing adequate devices and access to online education to underprivileged students and also focused on the digital divide created in India due to COVID. The Apex court inspired from the initiative of Delhi Hight Court directed the Central government and all the other states governments to create a plan of action to provide every underprivileged child access to online education.
This judgment is coherent with article 21A which is fundamental right of every children between 6 to 14 to get education and it also upholds the purpose of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
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