This article is from WeChat official account:I am a scientist iScientist (ID: IamaScientist), the original title “The whole world is online classes, why can’t you?” “Author: travel knowledge initiatives, editing, layout: Xiu Xiu, title figure from: Vision China

11-year-old Sunny said that her internet speed is too slow to attend classes at all. It takes two hours to do a page of homework, and it took her a whole day to finish her homework.

12-year-old Elise said that she has been using her smart phone to take classes. The internet speed is not good, the screen is small, pictures and words are not clear, and she can only understand about 60% of the course content.

The two children live in Hong Kong in 2020. However, even in a wealthy city like Hong Kong, some people are struggling in the digital world.

Online education, online courses, these new technologies were once thought to bring education equity-after all, top teachers used to teach dozens or hundreds of students at a time. Tens of thousands of students can receive the same information.

The new crown epidemic in 2020 has forced schools around the world to close. According to statistics from UNESCO, on November 17, 2020, there were 220 million students worldwide who were forced to leave campus due to the new crown epidemic. Nearly three-quarters of countries choose to use the Internet to allow students to continue their studies, while the remaining countries choose to provide distance education through television or radio. Originally regarded as supplementary online courses, in order to “suspend classes without suspension”, it became the main way of teaching.

And people have found that one thing has been overlooked in previous estimates, please——Even if no payment threshold is set for online courses, learning online courses still need to have some conditions: such as sufficient performance Computer equipment, fast enough internet speed, enough knowledge of computer and internet use, and even enough supporting learning environment-these conditionsFamilies are available, but it is difficult for poor families.

They can’t take online classes because of poverty

In theory, everyone on the Internet is equal. However, people’s opportunities and abilities to use the Internet are very different.

The Internet penetration rate in developed countries is often above 85%, while the Internet penetration rate in my country is around 50%. The more economically underdeveloped areas, the lower the Internet penetration rate. In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 90% of students do not have a home computer, and 82% of students cannot access the Internet.

About 826 million students in the world do not have computers at homes, and 706 million students do not have internet access at homes. Even in large affluent cities, there are people who are far away from the digital world because of poverty.

In August 2020, the Hong Kong Association of Community Organizations (Society for Community Organization) surveyed 733 students from low-income families and found that During the school suspension period, these children encountered many difficulties including-no computer, inability to operate the computer, the computer is too old to open school courses or homework, cannot access the Internet, the Internet speed is not enough, no printer can not print homework, no desk , There is no space for homework, you need to take turns using your parents’ mobile phones to do homework in class, and no one can ask if you encounter problems……

Of these 733 students, 88% need online classes to complete their studies, but 34% do not have broadband at home, and 40% do not have a computer with internet access. Even for those families with computers, 53% of the computers are borrowed or donated from charitable organizations, and 15% are borrowed or donated from relatives and friends-such computers are often old and poor in performance, and are prone to failure.

97% of them said it was difficult to learn online classes, and 91% felt that online classes would cause them to fall behind in school.

In wealthy households, there are often more than one computer, and there is a mobile phone, one for each person, and of course you also have fast broadband. Parents often enjoy themselves in the Internet world, can freely obtain the information or materials they need through the Internet, or have the ability to hire professionals to help their children use the Internet. Children from wealthy families also have more time and opportunities to get acquainted with the Internet world from an early age.

In contrast to some poor families,