Digital divide in India's 'Silicon Valley' glaring

The Big Class Divide

♦ The young girl consumed pesticide

♦ She was studying in Class X at Sagade government school

♦ Her parents stated that she committed suicide as they could not afford a smartphone for her daughter to attend online classes

♦ This incident comes at a time when the corporate schools in more elite parts of the city switched to online classes using several Apps.

Bengaluru: Covid-19 crisis has exposed an increasing gap between the rich and poor. A large section of children in the city's densely populated slums and those of migrant parents or construction workers are either missing out on learning altogether or depending on borrowed devices.

For the children whose parents can barely provide two square meals a day, smartphones or internet connectivity is a luxury. The pressure on the parents to provide their children with smart devices is taking a heavy toll.

In a tragic incident, a 15-year-old girl committed suicide in Sagade in Karnataka's Chamarajanagar district, purportedly for not being able to afford a smartphone to attend online classes, an official said on Tuesday. The police are probing the smartphone angle.

"A 15-year-old girl committed suicide in Chamarajanagar's Sagade village for unknown reasons; we are investigating the matter," a police officer said. The young girl consumed pesticide on Monday and succumbed to its poisoning at the government hospital at around 7 p.m. She was studying in Class X at the Sagade government school.

"The parents of the deceased girl gave a written complaint about the suicide and we are investigating whether the stated reason for the suicide is true," he said. According to the police, both the parents, Rajesh and Padma, are in their mid-40s and eke out their livelihood as construction workers.

Though the version that the girl committed suicide because her parents could not buy her a smartphone is doing the rounds, the police are not endorsing it for now, saying the truth will come out only after the investigation.

The 15-year-old girl is one of the many children in Karnataka and rest of India who haven't been able to go to school since the first lockdown, while students in more affluent parts quickly switched to classes using Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams or Zoom App, accessed on personal laptops,

The 12-year-old is one of the many children in her Delhi neighbourhood who hasn't been able to go to school since March 5; but while students in more affluent parts quickly switched to classes using Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, accessed on personal laptops, Sapna and many others are being left behind.

When Karnataka government imposed a blanket ban on online education, there was a hue and cry from private schools, largely because their revenue model suffered.

When Bengaluru schools started online classes in June, many opposed it citing the lack of laptop access for large sections of students.

As the corporate schools embraced online method of teaching, the digital inequity was glaring and at once appalling. While online education is being seen as the sole alternative to impart education to children in these terrible times of the pandemic. policymakers have miserably failed on formulating polices to address the problems faced by the students from marginalised sections of the society.

"For those who don't even have enough food on the table, online education is a pipe-dream. In the absence of physical classrooms and proper digital infrastructure, government teachers, students, and their parents are facing unprecedented challenges," said a government teacher.