As we all know, the Covid-19 pandemic has affected all the sectors in an unexpected way. Amongst all, one of the most affected sectors was the education sector. The fear of Covid-19 outbreak shut down schools and universities in India and many turned to online teaching.

However, Learning Spiral, one of India’s leading online examination solution providers, in a recent online survey found that above 50% of Indian students including both urban and rural areas don’t have access to the internet for online studies.

Stats from the survey

• While 51% of rural households in Kerala have access to the internet, only 23% of rural households have access at home.
• States like Andhra Pradesh where 30% of rural households have access to the internet but only 2% have access at home.
• In states like West Bengal and Bihar, only 7-8% of rural households have any access to the internet while only 18% and 21% (respectively) of urban households have any access to the internet.
• While 85% of urban household’s children who study in universities have access to the internet, only 41% are likely to have access at the home.
• Only 28% of rural household’s children have internet access to the home.
• 48% of remote university-level students do not have the internet access at home.
• Only 42% of students who reside in rural areas have the home access to the web and 69% of students who reside in urban areas can get online from home.

Commenting on this, Manish Mohta, MD – Learning Spiral said, “The major challenge of remote learning is the disparity in access from electricity and internet connections to devices like computer or smartphones.”