Defining the "Digital Divide"
Interaction
between humans and computers has greatly increased as we start the twenty-first century. The ability to access
computers and therefore the internet has become increasingly important to completely
immerse oneself within the economic, political, and social aspects of not
just America, but of the planet. However, not everyone has access to this
technology. The idea of the "digital divide" refers to the growing
gap between the underprivileged members of society, especially the poor, rural, elderly, and a handicapped portion of the population who do not have access to
computers or the internet; and therefore the wealthy, middle-class, and young living in urban and suburban
areas who have access.
The
digital divide metaphor became popular within the mid-1990s when the National Telecommunications and knowledge Administration (NTIA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce
published “Falling through the Net: A Survey of the ‘Have Not’s in Rural and concrete America” (1995), a search report on Internet diffusion among Americans. The report revealed widespread inequalities in national ICT access, with migrant or ethnic group groups and older, less-affluent people living in rural areas
with low educational attainments being especially excluded from Internet services.
That pattern was confirmed by follow-up surveys by the NTIA, which indicated
also an initial gender gap in favor of men.
Although diffusion rates of the web subsequently raised altogether groups, subsequent studies showed a perpetuating
digital divide both within us and abroad. Some common characteristics emerged. In single
nation-states, access to and usage of technology was stratified by age, education, ethnicity, race,
family structure, gender, income, occupation, and place of residence. therein way, affluent young urban men and ladies with high levels of education who lived in small
families with children were the best adopters of the latest media. Such people are presumed to possess ICTs (material or physical access), the
experience and skills necessary to use the web (skills access), and sufficient free time to spend
online (usage access). Here, Internet usage among advantaged groups includes checking out information to deal with professional or political interests. On the contrary, many of us from less-advantaged groups are shown to lack those basic navigation skills and to
prefer entertainment on the web instead.
On the worldwide level, additional factors like per capita gross domestic product, international
trade volume, degree of democratization, deregulation of the telecommunications
market, the density of communication infrastructure, and investments in research
and development also influences Internet diffusion. Thus, industrial societies
are more susceptible to implement new technologies than less-developed countries. for instance, by 2012 the best intensity of national ICT access and usage had
occurred in South Korea, Japan, and northern Europe.
Over time, the worldwide digital divide has remained relatively stable. Yet, in single
nation-states, some gaps in ICT access and usage have slowly begun to fade. the first differences between men and ladies and between rural and concrete areas of Western residences subsided, possibly thanks to extended telecommunications networks, lowered
entry barriers, and extra ICT experiences at work. Other initial
inequalities caused by factors like age, education, ethnicity and race, and income,
however, continued.
Those divergent developments and therefore the various sorts of ICT access and usage encountered in single
countries led some researchers to criticize the first description of a digital divide. In their opinion,
the metaphor wrongly implies a binary construction of “haves” and “have-nots”
on the idea of the straightforward notion of absolute and insurmountable class differences in
technology. Alternatively, they postulate “digital inequality” as a gradual
concept and thus advocate multidimensional measures of Internet connectedness that take under consideration the history and context of Internet use, its scope and
intensity, and, finally, the centrality of ICTs in people’s lives.
Similarly,
policy initiatives conducted by supranational organizations (e.g., the European Union and therefore the United Nations), national governments, and personal enterprises are expanded to ameliorate worldwide differences in
ICT usage. Although initially concentrating on the mere improvement of technical
access to computers and therefore the Internet in rural areas and public institutions (e.g., in
libraries and schools), projects designed to shut the digital divide have shifted to also include
civic information campaigns and ICT courses for specific user groups.
Ø Now I will discuss Pakistan’s
Great Digital Divide
In a widely shared video posted to social media, quite half a dozen Pakistani police personnel are seen running
after a woman and screaming, “Catch her! Catch her!” A female
officer grabs the neck of the protester, then her arms, and throws her during a prison van. She wasn't the sole student arrested. On Midsummer Day, around 100 students were subjected to violence, thrown in
police vans, and locked up till nightfall in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, Pakistan’s largest and most
impoverished province.
The protesters were demonstrating against classes
moving online thanks to COVID-19. they're of the view that online classes can’t happen in Baluchistan because the bulk of areas within the province don't have fiber-optic lines. Nine out of 32 districts
completely lack mobile internet services, because the internet was pack up thanks to security reasons.
On March 13, Pakistan announced the closure of all
educational institutions following the arrival of COVID-19 within the country. Since then all classrooms have remained
shut, prompting an enormous crisis within the education sector in the least levels. Pakistani authorities have ordered universities to form classes online only to assist curb the spread of the virus.
Pakistan’s Rural-Urban
Divide and Economic Disparity
In a joint statement, the Digital Rights Foundation
and Bolo Bhi, a civil society organization engaged in advocacy, policy, and
research in digital rights said an uncritical embrace of technology shouldn't ignore the very fact that access to those technologies remains a luxury for several and provision of the web is extremely low in countries like Pakistan.
Unequal access to the web may be a multifaceted issue; there are various reasons like infrastructure gaps, the agricultural and concrete divider, and economic inequality in Pakistan. Many
impoverished regions and far-flung areas of Pakistan don’t have access to the web.
According to The Inclusive Internet Index 2020,
Pakistan fell into the last quartile of nations, overall ranking 76th out of 100 countries (24th
out of 26 Asian countries). Besides a coffee level of digital literacy and poor quality
networks, the country also scored poorly within the affordability indicators. Internet access in Pakistan stands
at around 35 percent, with 78 million broadband and 76 million mobile internet
(3/4G) connections.
“Around 35 percent of Pakistan lacks internet
infrastructure,” Amin ul Haque, Pakistan’s minister for information technology,
told The Diplomat. “There is an urban and rural divide. Most private companies
invest in urban towns for commercial reasons and benefits. They refrain from
investing in rural and far [-flung] areas.”
Haque further said that the govt is trying its best to supply internet facilities to people. it's found out a universal service fund (USF), a government initiative that
aims to increase fiber optic connectivity to the unserved. “We have recently
invested 600 million rupees in Shahdadkot and Sanghar, two districts of Sindh,
for the digital infrastructure. Billions and billions are needed to finish this digital divide,” said Haque.
Around 65 percent of individuals in Pakistan sleep in rural areas. From Baluchistan to Sindh and from the previous FATA to Gilgit, students living in rural areas
complain about lack of access to the web and online classes.
“It is impossible on my behalf of me to require online classes from my home. During this pandemic, I even have tried to attend many Zoom meetings but I failed,”
Mehtab Roy from Umerkot district in Sindh told The Diplomat. Roy is studying
law in Karachi.
“Broadband and PTCL [Pakistan Telecommunication
Company Ltd.] services provide internet facility to only 5 percent of the
population in former FATA,” said Kazmi. “The government should restore mobile
internet services in tribal areas or provide broadband facilities.”
Due to a scarcity of internet facilities in many rural areas of
Balochistan, former FATA, and interior Sindh and Punjab, students and teachers
are panicking and leaving for urban areas where they might access internet facilities – even when doing so
means putting themselves in danger from the pandemic.
“There are hardly any COVID-19 cases in my hometown,
Awaran, Baluchistan. On the opposite hand, Karachi has one of the very best COVID-19 case [rates] in Pakistan. Despite knowing this, I
had risked my life to return back to Karachi because I don’t have the web services in my hometown. Therefore, I can’t attend
online classes from there and [had to] come to Karachi,” Zaheer Baloch, an IR
student at Karachi University, told The Diplomat.
“Bahria University, Islamabad gave the course
which I used to be teaching to a different lecturer, as I had no internet during the pandemic in former
FATA,” Sibte Hassan, from Kurram district of former FATA, a visiting lecturer
at Bahria University and Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad told The Diplomat.
“Now I'm compelled to travel to Islamabad as I don’t have the web. I can’t teach online classes from my hometown. I
can’t even apply for a job and other opportunities.”
Like other regions, Pakistan’s disputed region
with India, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) also has internet issues, and students there
have likewise taken to the streets. GB may be a mountainous region within the north of Pakistan. Much of the region don’t even
have mobile services, like alone the web.
“We sleep in a troublesome and distant terrain of Pakistan and there has been no
development for providing internet facilities. In most areas there's no electricity, no PTCL, and no phone,” said Naveed
Saleem, a student from GB. “Even 10km far away from the town we don’t have mobile services, and therefore the officials ask us to attend online classes — this is often brutal.”
As of in the week, A social media campaign calling for high-speed internet within the region — #Internet4GilgitBaltistan – was
trending on Twitter.
Beyond the agricultural or urban divide, other issues are affecting the education
system during this pandemic. “Our teachers aren't trained neither is our pedagogy ready for online classes. Turning towards
digital classes all of a sudden is extremely devastating,” Zahabia, organizer of the Progressive Student
Federation (PRSF) in Karachi, told The Diplomat.
“Other than the agricultural and concrete divide, there exists the category difference too. like the University of Karachi, which has over 30,000
students, within the metropolitan city of Pakistan. A majority of scholars belong to working-class families. Despite being within the city, they either lack gadgets or can’t afford to possess costly internet packages. So, how can we choose online classes amid these huge inequalities?”
questioned Zahabia.
Like students, many of the teachers also afflict the thought of online classes.
“As many folks belong to rural areas, so we've limited or no internet access. Many folks lack resources like laptops, internet devices, or the value of internet packages,” Saddam Jamali, a teacher and head of the pc Science Department at University College of Dera Murad
Jamali said.
“There are unserved and under-served areas in
Pakistan. they need to be uplifted. We try our greatest,” said Haque, the minister for information technology.
Security
Concerns and Internet Shutdowns
But in some regions, internet access is purposefully stopped or restricted thanks to security concerns.
“The Pakistan Army features a monopoly of providing internet in Gilgit
Baltistan, because the only service we've had for years was SCOM, a mobile network by the
Special Communications Organization (SCO),” said Saleem, the scholar from GB. “Recently, Telenor opened its services within the region. But all companies need to take permission from the military for opening their services. the military should invite other companies to take a position within the region.” The SCO is maintained by Pakistan Army and provides
services in Jammu and Kashmir and GB.
Senator Kabeer Muhammad Shahi, in his speech within the Senate of Pakistan, said that in many districts of
Baluchistan the safety situation has improved; therefore, the 3G/4G
services should be restored. in addition to seven districts of Baluchistan, the web still is closed.
Writer: Muhammad Bilal Chughtai.
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