The Delhi High Court on Friday directed both private and government schools in the Capital to provide gadgets and Internet package free of cost to poor students for attending online classes, a verdict aimed at narrowing the COVID-19 pandemic-induced digital divide.
A Bench of Justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula said if a school decides to opt for online mode as a medium of instruction, it will have to ensure that students belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) and disadvantaged group (DG) category also have access and are able to avail of the same.
“To separate the EWS/DG students from others in the same class due to non-availability of a gadget/device would generate a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the class that may affect their hearts and minds unlikely ever to be undone (sic),” Justice Manmohan said.
“We must also acknowledge that because of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there could be a tendency amongst the underprivileged children to abandon education for work,” Justice Narula said in a concurring verdict.
“This likely fallout needs to be immediately addressed, otherwise the gap between the learning experiences of children from economically weaker sections and the relatively privileged children will widen,” Justice Narula said.
The High Court said schools are erecting a financial barrier for EWS/DG category students by not providing the required equipment, preventing them from pursuing their elementary education as the pandemic rages.
This, the court said, was in violation of Sections 3, 8, 12(1)(c) of the Right to Education Act, 2009.
‘Digital apartheid’
Intra-class discrimination, especially between the 75% fee-paying students and the 25% EWS/DG students, upsets the level playing field and “amounts to discrimination as well as creates a vertical division, digital divide or digital gap or digital apartheid in addition to segregation in a classroom which is violative of RTE, 2009, and Articles 14, 20 and 21 of the Constitution”, the court said.
The Bench said private unaided schools will be entitled to claim reimbursement of reasonable cost for procurement of the gadget and Internet package from the government under Section 12(2) of the RTE Act.
Committee formed
The court also ordered the formation of a three-member committee, including the Central and Delhi Education Secretaries, within a week to expedite and streamline the process of identifying and supplying the gadgets to poor and disadvantaged students.
The High Court’s direction came on a public interest litigation filed by NGO Justice for All through advocate Khagesh B. Jha, seeking direction to authorities to supply free laptops or mobile phones with high-speed Internet to EWS/DG students so they could attend online classes.