1.3 billion children in a ‘digital canyon'

The United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF) came out Wednesday with a report that may have relevance to our educational system in the Philippines.

About 1.3 billion school-age children worldwide whose schools have closed down due to the COVID19 have no access to Internet at home. They make up about two-thirds of the world’s children aged 3 to 17. “This is more than just a digital gap,” UNICEF Executive Director Henietta Fore said. “It is a digital canyon!”

The UNICEF report should be of particular concern to officials of our Department of Education who decided to open the new school year last August 24 with a blended learning system with Internet-based sessions, television and radio programs, and printed modules which were disributed by teachers to the homes of the children, instead of face-to-face class meetings.