Tackling barriers to digital literacy
This article is authored by Mehdi Hussain.
The introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) in education has impacted teaching and learning. It has produced various educational resources in the form of digital textbooks, learning videos or online tutorials covering a curriculum. In addition, several online learning platforms give students different options to tailor their needs. Educational technology allows globalisation of education through access to international resources and instructors. It enables students to learn cross-border courses or cultures through virtual exchange programmes and engage in collaborative global projects.
The question of the digital divide coincides with the issue of access to the internet and electronic devices. The ‘accessibility’ is discussed in terms of the ‘gap’ between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’, which further gets complicated by social and cultural conditions and other disparities in infrastructure and skills. The United Nations (UN) Human Settlements Programme’s 2021 ‘Addressing the Digital Divide’, the digital divide is the gap between those who have access to and use ICTs, including internet connectivity, internet-enabled devices and digital literacy skills and those who do not. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 95% of the global population has access to mobile broadband; however, only two-thirds have actual access to the internet. Poverty is the biggest challenge to access to electronic devices and the internet. Accessible and affordable literacy is a barrier to women, marginalised populations, low-income groups or persons with disabilities. The short-term impacts of the digital divide include students’ learning difficulties and limited available resources. Students, thus, find it challenging to complete assignments and fall in grades. The long-term impacts of the digital divide may be restricting career opportunities after the inability to learn digital skills. Without adequate financial support and technical know-how, vulnerable communities face these disadvantages.
Tackling barriers to digital literacy includes making access to high-speed Internet and electronic devices affordable and inclusive, supported by capacity training in digital skills. It requires all stakeholders, including the UN bodies, governments, corporations and civil societies, to actively engage in the reduction of the ‘gap’ produced by the digital divide.
The UN is a conducive platform for global digital cooperation to collaborate among governments, the private sector, civil society, international/regional organisations, the technical and academic communities, and other stakeholders. The Global Digital Compact (GDC) aims to reduce the digital divides between and within countries through international cooperation. LDCs and developing countries face severe financial and resource constraints in their efforts to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). The GDC aims to guide the pace and power of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, 5G, among others, towards strengthening human rights and mitigating their risks. It seeks gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls and their full, equal and meaningful participation in the digital space to close the gender digital divide and advance sustainable development. Through GDC, countries will cooperate in this direction to encourage leadership of women, mainstream gender perspective and counter/eliminate all forms of violence that occur through or are amplified by the use of technology. It seeks to remove existing technological capacity and market power concentrations for an equitable and meaningful inclusion in the digital economy. Thus, cooperation on GDC will ensure a fair distribution of digital cooperation's benefits and prevent aggravating existing inequalities.
The ITU advances universal and meaningful connectivity. The GDC will provide a thrust to its efforts. Within the GDC framework, countries have committed to developing and strengthening targets for universal, meaningful and affordable connectivity, building on existing work, and integrating these targets into international, regional and national development strategies by 2030. It recommends governments, multilateral development banks, relevant international organisations, and the private sector connect the remaining 2.6 billion people to the internet and improve the quality and affordability of connectivity through innovative and blended financing mechanisms and incentives. For this, these stakeholders should bring down the entry-level broadband subscription costs for the broadest section of the population. Then, under the framework, they should invest in and deploy resilient digital infrastructure, including satellites and local network initiatives. It will provide safe and secure network coverage to all areas, including rural, remote and hard-to-reach areas, and promote equitable access to satellite orbits, considering the needs of developing countries. The GDC requires mapping and connecting all schools and hospitals to the Internet, building on the Giga initiative of the ITU and the UN Children’s Fund.
Regarding digital skills and capacities, the GDC has committed to developing and supporting national digital skills strategies, adapting teacher training and education curricula and providing adult training programmes for the digital age. It also targets increasing the availability, accessibility, and affordability of digital technology platforms, services, and educational curricula in diverse languages and formats and accessible user interfaces for persons with disabilities. Further, it seeks to adapt capacity-building for women and girls, children and youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons, Indigenous Peoples and those in vulnerable situations.
The GDC framework also intervenes to address the issue of digital public infrastructure. The digital public infrastructure should be resilient, safe, inclusive and interoperable to increase social and economic opportunities for all. Then, digital public goods like open-source software, open data, open Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, etc., should benefit society. Another policy intervention is to exchange and make publicly available best practices and use cases of digital public infrastructure to inform governments, the private sector and other stakeholders. According to the GDC framework, it should be built on existing United Nations and other repositories.
Digital inclusion, thus, needs to foresee the challenges of the digital divide and provide predictability at the policy level. Recognition of digital literacy as a human right should come at the earliest. Digital literacy creates the doorway to other rights in this digital era. It empowers individuals with essential information about education, health, legal, and financial resources—without which their lives would be impacted. It also encourages one to express ideas freely and participate actively in the public sphere.
GDC’s recognition of the engagement of digitally-affected people in the design and implementation of digital capacity programmes is critical in tackling barriers to digital literacy and removing the gap produced by the digital divide. The GDC has comprehensively incorporated the need to address the disparities in digital literacy.
This article is authored by Mehdi Hussain, research associate, Indian Council of World Affairs & former assistant professor of political science, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi.