GUTA: Online teaching will raise social inequalities

GUWAHATI: The executive committee of Gauhati University Teachers' Association (GUTA) on Thursday said the push to online teaching was going to sharpen the digital divide and social inequalities, and urged the authorities to form a task force, involving academics to prepare a road map to negotiate the challenges being faced by students during lockdown.
"The association observed that the prolonged closure of the educational institutions is going to have a long-term adverse impact on the academic pursuits of students in the state. GUTA observed with concern that during the pandemic, the lack of equal and adequate infrastructure to cater to the needs of students from different backgrounds and across different areas in the state has come to the fore. While acknowledging the need for online teaching and learning, GUTA is also of the view that the push for online teaching was going to sharpen the digital divide and social inequalities," said GUTA president Akhil Ranjan Dutta and general secretary Tilak Hazarika in a statement issued on Thursday.
GUTA urged the state government to involve civil society organisations to find a solution to the issue.
Further, GUTA welcomed the formation of the Advisory Economic Task Force to deal with the post-Covid-19 economic challenges of the state. "GUTA is confident that the task force will involve cross sections of society, particularly individuals and organisations who have been working at the grassroots for the uplift of the economy while finalising its recommendations to the government.
The GUTA also opposed coal mining in Dehing Patkai in upper Assam. "Drawing concerns on the recent recommendation of the National Board for Wild Life (NBWL) for opening cast coal mining in 98.59 hectares in the Dehing Patkai Reserve Forest in Assam, GUTA observed that such an act was going to destroy the largest tropical lowland rainforest in the country which is home to a large number of rare and endangered wild life. The said recommendation of the NBWL is a clear reflection of disdain of the government of India for green assets in the state, particularly a biodiversity hotspot just to benefit the mining lobby," read the GUTA statement.