The study explores the impact of covid 19 on the school education of socially disadvantaged students from Malkangiri district of Odisha. The objective is exploring the challenges in accessing digital education, adaptability of teachers to digital education, and parental support to children. The students from class 5, class 8, class 10, and class 12 and their parents are included in the study by using stratified random sampling technique. Around 31 per cent of them had access to smartphones wherein their proportion is high in urban areas as compared to rural areas. Only twelve per cent had regular internet service. These phones require electricity to charge the battery, but less than half of the households had an electricity connection. The absence of electricity connection was one of the major issues even if parents were ready to buy smartphone. The lack of awareness about school closure is a major constraint for parents to understand digital education. It was further noticed the increase in awareness is consistent with the increase in their family monthly income and parent’s years of schooling.

Author: Annapuranam K.

Published in: World Congress on Education (2024)

• Date of Conference: 26-28 August, 2024
• DOI: 10.20533/WCE.2024.0033
• Electronic ISBN: 978-1-913572-71-6
• Conference Location: Churchill College, Cambridge, UK