Digital divide keeps close to 66% of guest workers’ kids from online classes in Tamil Nadu – Times of India

The study, conducted in March and April this year, showed that the lockdown exacerbated the effects of the digital divide and denied such children access to education, nutritious meals, health and immunization services.

The longer the schools remain closed, the longer these children are cut off from these critical elements of childhood. It also said the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009 failed them. “Free and compulsory education became a mirage,” said the study done by Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – Watch Tamil Nadu, a collective of five civil society organisations working among migrant labourers.
The study, released on Saturday, found language was a barrier for such children, with 288 (69%) of 419 respondents confirming it. “Since they are unable to continue schooling in their mother tongue in the host state, it is likely to lead to their dropping out,” said S Venkataraman, a member of the research team.

Among children of interstate workers, those accompanying parents to brick kilns are the worst affected as they are totally cut off from education as the kilns are in remote areas and far away from schools.

It also demystified the theory that only children of inter-state migrants were affected. “Majority of the children are from other districts in the state. They lack support systems and electronic devices to attend online classes,” said Edwin of SDG-Watch TN.

Guest workers, according to the study, look to education to escape from poverty, but lack the resources to help their children continue their studies. “The source and destination states along with the Centre should come up with proactive measures to bring back children to school. The authorities should develop mechanisms to register and track each member of migrants, particularly children, and absorb them into schools wherever they are. If they fail, it will result in loss of childhood, increase in child labourers and child marriages,” he said.