In 2020, Covid-19, commonly known as the new coronavirus, sparked a global outbreak that threw the entire world into chaos. Countries were placed on lockdown, people were told to stay at home and keep social distance, and everyone’s social life came to a halt. The economy tanked, forcing businesses to rethink their business strategies and forcing salaried staff to work from home on their computers. As students attended online classes, employees held online meetings, and after school/office hours meant online connections with friends, Internet usage inevitably rose. The “new normal,” which meant anything and anything on the Internet, did not, however, reach everyone in India.
It is critical to include online education in this discussion. School-aged youngsters from around the world were forced to convert to an online style of education without having time to adjust. To attend lessons at a traditional online school, students must have enough Internet access and a well-functioning device such as a laptop, PC, or mobile phone. For children from disadvantaged and marginalised communities, this is a luxury. Many schools that serve these populations were unable to cope with the unexpected changes because they lacked the infrastructure and abilities to adapt to online learning, and as a result, they closed. While these children’s schooling has been halted, the government has made no alternative recommendations to assist them. “Roughly 6 million youngsters are out of school in India right now,” according to a recent assessment by the Annual Status of Education Report. The situation is worsening, and these intelligent children’s future appears gloomy.
Small businesses, such as street sellers and casual labourers, are another part of society that has been damaged. Because of the epidemic, digitization meant that instead of putting up physical stalls, all of these services had to be made digital. “Digital literacy is almost non-existent among more than 90% of India’s population,” according to the Digital Empowerment Foundation. As a result, some vendors are having difficulty digitising their operations. In this industry, casual labourers frequently perform manual labour such as sorting and cleaning stores. They are thrust into an unexpected environment as a result of digitization, in which none of their skills are valued. Both small firms and their employees have suffered as a result of this. As a result, compared to other parts of society, uncontrolled digitization puts these communities in jeopardy.
So, how are they going to get out of this mess? There’s no denying that digitalization is here to stay, which means the government needs to step up its efforts to improve digital literacy. “Public investment in ICT and digital infrastructure, digital skills development, and regulatory framework will be important to bridge the gap in digital readiness and support digital transformation,” according to the Asian Development Bank. This will not only assist those students in attending school and vendors in maintaining their businesses, but it will also ease their responsibilities during uncertain times.
