The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed our understanding of education, especially on the provision of instruction, the mobilization of human and non-human capital. Initially manifested in preparation for school year opening, the Department of Education's formal launch of the Brigada Eskwela and Oplan Balik Eskwela, plans such as classroom renovations, repainting and the likes have been replaced by virtual opening and collaboration with stakeholders, all aimed at ensuring that there is no actual physical presence of teachers, parents and students.
The pandemic has also resulted in a more pronounced divide between those who have access to quality education, and those who can not. For example, in higher education, the students have a more unequivocal inability to access quality education that fact that a greater proportion of higher education institutions are owned by private individuals or organizations with less or no government support.
Even with government support for students wishing to enroll in private education institutions, this year's funding is inadequate as priority is given to funding for social assistance. For the basic education this year, access to quality education comes in the form of learning with limited to no exposure to information technology, making access to quality education a major perennial concern.
The incorporation of information technology into learning has shifted society significantly, particularly for those who can access services. The large gap in access to information and emerging technology can be geographical or socioeconomic, and this divide adversely affects the education sector. The effect of the digital divide in all facets of life is felt and we should address how digital divide affects the education.
Access to ICT, which is a broad topic, includes hardware availability, software, accessory equipment, and networking, as well as unlimited access to reliable information, particularly in a formal school setup.
More than two decades ago, with the advent of information technology in education, aspirations were strong and the society's underprivileged lot became optimist. Nonetheless, this has not happened and the digital divide has evolved very rapidly, and the impacts are now vivid.
Low-income learners in the family have limited access to digital content, which is crucial to advancing their education and innovative ideas because they can not afford online connectivity. As such, most underdeveloped students can only do theoretical programs that do not require intensive study. It is difficult to limit the range of knowledge available to these students, and often they either avoid attending courses or poor performance, if they register.
Currently, many universities around the world embrace technology, and most of the activities are made available online, including assignments and learning material presentation. The poor will remain deprived of the critical academic knowledge that is offered online, and will therefore still fall behind, and poor results can sum up this. In circumstances where the process of gradation is performed online, it would not be possible for those in the lower divisions to track their progress and strategize and they, therefore, lack the drive to proceed.
With the courtesy of technology integration in education, one can now learn from the comfort in the living room on a distance learning program. The rich are motivated because they have the resources to facilitate this form of development, while the poor face many obstacles in their attempts to achieve quality education, and they may have to travel miles away to their schools.
Although the wealthy can easily access online school materials and work on their programs in a flash, the people in the lower socio-economic classes are deprived and have to go through long hours of tedious studies to achieve the course's objectives.
Most underdeveloped countries continue to be predominantly engaged in technical training or struggle to produce half-baked graduates due to insufficient training due to limited research skills as internet access is poor in addition to low-level training equipment.
In fact, children from the poor community were unable to gain admission to schools that adamantly accepted ICT; therefore, they remained exclusively for the affluent in society. Consequently, they achieved excellence in education while the poor stagnated, glued to obsolete old ideas. And so the digital divide widened the disparity in academic success between rich and poor, and later economically.
The massive digital gap in education poses a huge barrier to the development of the underdeveloped world because it will not be able to create new technologies and work towards improving living conditions for people. In fact, the digital divide in education promotes the phenomenon of dependence; unproven philosophies can be adhered to because they lack a framework to construct or scrutinize them.
Given the critical role ICT plays in classrooms, how to bridge the gap in digital education is a major challenge for countries around the world in ensuring real educational equity. In narrowing down the digital gap, some of the crucial adjuncts include fostering digital literacy through programs or opportunities, collaborations with influential organizations and extensive networking.