80% parents in 5 states say digital schooling failed during lockdown: Study

More than 80% of parents with children studying in government schools reported that education was “not delivered” during the lockdown, according to a new five-state survey conducted by the non-profit Oxfam India. In Bihar, 100% of the parents interviewed voiced this view.

This failure was mostly because families did not have digital devices and access to digital mediums of education, said the study released on September 4, 2020. The survey was conducted among 1,158 parents and 488 teachers across Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh between May and June 2020.

Only 15% of India’s rural households have access to the internet and these numbers are even fewer among marginalised social groups such as Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims, as per government data. Further, gendered access to digital mediums excluded many girls from education during the lockdown, IndiaSpend reported in June.