The ASER Digital Check 2020 sought to analyze data on learning and accessibility collected via the pan-India ASER 2020 survey through an equity lens. As schools shut down to arrest the spread of COVID-19, both private and government schools increasingly took to remote learning as a way to combat the crisis. Unfortunately, the sole reliance on technology to impart education during the lockdown has opened avenues which have widened the digital divide in the country. The 'ASER Digital Check 2020' provided new evidence from the ASER 2020 report, highlighting differences across dimensions such as type of school, gender, level of parents’ education and availability of smartphones at home, as a way to understand the emerging equity gap in education.
The Fletcher School at Tufts University, one of the research partners for The ASER Digital Check 2020, now seeks to discuss the way forward through the IDEA (Imagining a Digital Economy for All) 2030 Conclave.
The conclave, organized by Digital Planet, an interdisciplinary research initiative of the Fletcher School, will feature a number of scholars and thought leaders, including Pratham CEO Dr Rukmini Banerji and Director of the ASER Centre Dr Wilima Wadhwa. They will discuss what we learned about our digital lives around the world during the pandemic and how we can get from here to a digital economy that works for everyone everywhere.
Titled ‘The Internet’s Turn?’, the conclave will provide vignettes on how education fared in India during the pandemic, how data governance norms have been evolving around the world, how access to the internet (or lack thereof) played out in various parts of the world during the pandemic, and what the trends and patterns we see mean for our collective digital future.
You can join Digital Planet’s IDEA Council for the conclave on Monday, December 13 by registering here.