Challenges and Barriers for Accessing Online Education Amongst School Children in an Urban Slum Area of Pune, India

Abstract

BackgroundCOVID-19 has restricted the education of students on a global scale. With the nationwide stay-at-home directives, schools, colleges and universities have been shut down. Online education is a measure for continuing the learning of the students in times of pandemic. However, the school-going children of urban slum areas face challenges in attending online classes. Through this study, we have tried to highlight the problems and challenges faced by the students and their parents from an urban slum area of Mangalwarpeth, Pune for attending online education in times of COVID. The urban slum area mainly consists of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds lacking the necessary resources and supportive environment for an online mode of education. We have observed and recorded the response of the participants in the context of online education in times of COVID and challenges faced by the lower socio-economic strata due to reasons like non-availability of resources, poor internet connectivity, poor understanding, and distractions while classes leading to low attendance. MethodsA cross-sectional qualitative study was conducted in an urban slum area of Mangalwarpeth, Pune. Data was collected over four months after receiving consent from the parents of the children from the metropolitan slum area of Mangalwarpeth. A structured questionnaire was used. Data was coded on an excel sheet and was transferred to SPSS software version 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) and was represented in frequency and percentage. ResultAfter the data collection and analysis, we found that (according to the modified Kuppuswamy scale for socioeconomic status) around 53% of the study population were from the lower middle class followed by the upper lower class (27.16%), upper middle class (9.87%), lower class (8.64%) and upper class (1.23%). Sixteen percent of participants do not have smartphones available, and 95.5% do not have a laptop required for online classes. A total of 19.5% of the students do not have access to internet services. Eighty-four percent of parents agreed on increased expenses of the internet. ConclusionStudents from urban slum areas belong to lower socioeconomic classes and face problems while attending online classes like the nonavailability of resources and lack of a supportive environment. There are increased expenses of the internet as a result of the online mode of education, with increased distractions from the surroundings, concentration problems, and less understanding of the subjects. The students cannot interact with their teachers and friends and as a result, their social interaction is reduced. A supportive environment and proper resources are essential for the learning of students to continue education in times of emergencies like pandemics.

Informing Barriers to Classroom Practices with an Assessment Tool: Study on Private Schools Serving Children from Informal Settlements

“…Moreover, students from informal settings lack a supportive environment, which further aggravates their barriers towards understanding any particular subject and affects their social interaction (Tsimpli et al, 2020;Bennell, 2022;Rannaware, et al, 2022). However, nothing special has yet been done for the children from slums in education; results in this study will stand significant.…”

Blended learning versus online education: impact to elementary students’ engagement in physical activity and Body Mass Index

“…There is no denying that in the past, when online learning was undeniable, many benefits were acquired, such as remote learning, which was realized, pleasant, and easily available [42,43], despite its shortcomings, which included inefficiency and the difficulties of maintaining academic integrity [44][45][46]. The lack of access to the internet was the main barrier to learning [47,48], while problems with comprehension and retention persisted [49]. As mentioned by previous scholars, understanding the material is essential for maintaining academic integrity [44][45][46], but this might be challenging for elementary school students.…”