With the SSC results declared, creating a new pass percentage record, it is now time for these students to seek out their higher secondary institutes and they will be able to do so only online. The government has already called for online admissions but this is not going to be as easy as a click of a mouse. It is not only a new process for students and for schools, there is also the connectivity issue to contend with and for which there is yet no solution been found. Despite a high number of mobile phone users in the State, Goa’s connectivity fails to meet the demand, and in the current pandemic situation when education across ages has gone online, the connectivity has been exposed at regular intervals.
In the brief time that the opposition was in the House for the Legislative Assembly session on July 27, the one thing it managed to accomplish was to point out to the government that the latter had done precious little to ensure wider network coverage in Goa since the start of the lockdown. It repeatedly underlined the government’s failure to assess the feasibility of digital learning before opting for online schooling in the wake of the pandemic.
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The government, in response to the opposition charges, again admitted that it is aware that there are connectivity issues in the State that are hampering online education in Goa. This has turned into a major debate as educational institutions remain shut due to the pandemic and students rely on lessons sent via online means by teachers. The government once again has said the issue is because people have been objecting to mobile towers in their villages. While this has happened, with certain villages even resolving in gram sabhas against having such towers in their jurisdiction, almost everybody complains of low coverage at all other times. The government said there are between 200 and 250 applications pending with the government for setting up mobile towers, especially in the interiors.
There are various areas across the State where online connectivity just does not exist, which begs the very simple question: If there is no connectivity then can online education in Goa be a success? Very obviously it can’t, and here is where the problems arise. What is occurring now is that those who are able to receive signals and whose parents can afford to give their children mobile phones are in postion to keep abreast of the lessons being streamed live or uploaded online for later viewing, while those who live in the shadow areas are at a complete loss where education is concerned. An interesting question is what happens when schools reopen and students return to the classroom? There will be some who will have followed the online lessons and others who have not, creating a massive divide in the classroom that teachers will find dificult to bridge.
In this situation, how does one take education online across the State to every household when there is no connectivity? Can Goa allow the digital divide kill the education dreams of thousands of students who do not have access to the technology and to connectivity? There is not much time for the State to get its act together. Onlines classes started almost two months ago and the problem persists. However, students should not be made to suffer because of lack of infrastructure. The government is currently in the process of finalising a Goa Infrastructure Policy that is related to installation of mobile towers and Right of Way (RoW) permissions, which is aimed at increasing mobile coverage. A mere policy will not suffice, it will also need to be aggressively implemented to reduce the gap in coverage.
