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UNICEF works to end digital poverty globally

Words by Smiley Team

 

Two thirds of the world’s school-age children – or 1.3 billion children aged 3 to 17 years old – do not have internet connection in their homes, according to a new joint report from UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The report How Many Children and Youth Have Internet Access at Home? notes a similar lack of access among young people aged 15-24 years old, with 759 million or 63 per cent unconnected at home.

“That so many children and young people have no internet at home is more than a digital gap –it is a digital canyon,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director.

“Lack of connectivity doesn’t just limit children and young people’s ability to connect online. It prevents them from competing in the modern economy. It isolates them from the world.

"And in the event of school closures, such as those currently experienced by millions due to COVID-19, it causes them to lose out on education. Put bluntly: Lack of internet access is costing the next generation their futures.”

Nearly a quarter of a billion students worldwide are still affected by Coronavirus school closures, forcing hundreds of millions of students to rely on virtual learning. For those with no internet access, education can be out of reach. Even before the pandemic, a growing cohort of young people needed to learn foundational, transferable, digital, job-specific and entrepreneurial skills to compete in the 21st century economy.

Globally, among school-age children from richest households, 58 per cent have internet connection at home, compared with only 16 per cent from the poorest households. The same disparity exists across country income level as well.

Less than 1 in 20 school-age children from low-income countries have internet connection at home, compared with nearly 9 in 10 from high-income countries. Children and young people from the poorest households, rural and lower income states are falling even further behind their peers and are left with very little opportunity to ever catch up.

“This is an issue facing children across the world – including in the UK,” said Unicef UK’s Senior Policy Adviser, Anja Nielsen.

“Coronavirus has highlighted inequalities that already existed, and the need to access online learning resources at home will only increase as technology develops and blended learning becomes part of the “new normal”. Unicef UK is calling on the Department for Education to undertake a comprehensive assessment of children’s needs and plan accordingly, for Coronavirus and for the future.”

There are also geographic disparities within countries and across regions. Globally, around 60 per cent of school-age children in urban areas do not have internet access at home, compared with around three-quarters of school-age children in rural households.

School-age children in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the most affected, with around 9 in 10 children unconnected.Last year, UNICEF and ITU launched Giga, a global initiative to connect every school and its surrounding community to the Internet.

Working with governments, Giga has now mapped over 800,000 schools in 30 countries. With this data, Giga works with governments, industry, civil sector, and private sector partners to craft compelling investment cases for blended public-private funding to build the connectivity infrastructure needed to deploy digital learning solutions and other services.

Although the numbers in the UNICEF-ITU report present an alarming picture, the situation is likely worse due to compounding factors, such as affordability, safety and low levels of digital skills. According to the latest ITU data, low digital skills remain a barrier to meaningful participation in a digital society, while mobile telephone and internet access remain too expensive for many in the developing world as the result of vast disparities in purchasing power.

Unicef UK’s Save Generation Covid appeal is supporting children and families impacted by Coronavirus across the world. Visit unicef.uk/donate-generationcovid to donate and help #GenerationCovid.

This article aligns with the following UN SDGs

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