As one of the 193 United Nations Member States to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals, India is committed to the UN pledge to “leave no one behind.” A crucial aspect of achieving these ambitious Global Goals — which include providing quality education for everyone, everywhere — means equipping the country’s youths with access to digital technology. Yet, with the pandemic shuttering schools across the nation, online tools for students have become even more critical — and scarce.

“In our school, online classes started in March 2020, but I started attending them only in August. I did not know classes had started,” says Nidhi, a high school student from a girls-only public school in southeast Delhi.

Another student, Chandan, ultimately learned about the online classes after a classmate passed along his phone number to the teacher. Only then was Chandan included in the chat group where his teachers were sharing everything related to online classes. Last September he started studying again, nearly five months after his school had launched the online platform.

Both Nidhi and Chandan lost precious months of learning. Their stories exemplify a growing gap in India between children who have access to online classes and those who don’t.

Our latest survey with the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) examined the experience of children attending secondary education in government and government-aided schools in Delhi since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

As a precaution against the spread of COVID-19, the Government of Delhi suspended in-person classes in all schools starting April 1, 2020. In the first communication on school closure and online courses, the Delhi Directorate of Education also developed a plan to implement remote learning activities. The information technology (IT) branch of the government was tasked with reaching students through SMS text messages and sharing details about online classes.

Read the full article about technology for school-student communication in India by Protiva Kundu and Shruti Ambast at the United Nations Foundation.