These days of confinement have highlighted the importance of a technology that, until now, was transparent for the majority of the population that uses it daily. This importance, however, has shown that for other people this technology is not only not transparent (it requires an added effort to interact with it), but in some cases it is non-existent, and it is impossible for them to use it because they do not have access to it.
The alarm call came from the school. The fact that close all compulsory and non-compulsory education institutions, for the first time since I can remember, for such a long period of time, it generated great concern. First, because of the fact of having children at home when parents must work from home or, worse, must continue going to work because either their job does not allow them to work from home, or they are part of the professions that have been considered essential during this period of confinement. Second, because a great unknown arose about how children and young people could study from home in a society where the culture of digital education is still far from being consolidated.
However, the main problem has been that, once the situation was accepted, in a not inconsiderable number of homes in the country there were not enough devices for the people who had to use them at home or, simply, they did not have access to the Internet. media presence They have said that, for this reason, the Internet, or online education, widens the so-called digital divide. In Catalonia, for example, 16% of the population has problems accessing the Internet because they do not have fibre optics.
It has been curious to observe how, faced with this lack, the first reaction of some administrations was to deny the possibility of providing educational support via online mode to the majority of students in the system. It was argued that some people would have difficulties in receiving this support, for the reasons mentioned. It is obvious that one cannot agree more with the obligation to arbitrate inclusive solutions that allow everyone, without exception, to have an adequate system to alleviate the absence of physical schooling for a period of time due to a force majeure reason. Having said that, what could not be accepted was that the solution was to do nothing and, fortunately and as it could not be otherwise, the initial decision was changed. And that interlude, between the initial inaction and the emergency solution finally put into practice, has shown that access to the Internet is a fundamental tool for the present and the future of educational systems.
It is also true that Internet access alone will not solve other problems associated with the insufficient capacity of the education system to respond consistently in emergency situations such as the one we are experiencing. But it is a very important first step. We could compare it to times past, when, faced with the need to close another gap, that of literacy, the creation of popular libraries, in order to facilitate the population's access to books and reading. Access to books did not automatically make people literate, but it was a necessary and essential first step. The Internet is now the master key to accessing information, so that later, once mediated by educational agents, it can become education and training.
And it is also true, and it is important to say, that educational systems have unresolved problems that cannot be blamed on technology. This would be too easy and rather demagogic and technophobic.
There will be other actions that will have to be carried out in the immediate future if we do not want this situation, if it repeats itself, to overtake us again in the future. And the forecasts, although we hope they do not come true, indicate that there is a good chance that it will happen again. Some authors point out that what we call the digital divide is actually three gapsThe access gap is the first and perhaps the most visible, the one that everyone has in mind when talking about it, and which means very unequal access to devices in homes, especially in times of confinement, when several people in the same household need to access the Internet. The second is the so-called usage gap, which determines how often the Internet is usually used at home, and for what purposes it is used. Those who are more accustomed to using it for learning purposes will be better positioned to take advantage of it at this time. Finally, the third is the gap that we could call institutional. It refers to the capacities, or skills, of teachers to docitically use digital tools; to digital resources and platforms; and to the training that schools and the Administration make available to education professionals for this purpose.
As we can see, these last two gaps have a lot to do with the acquisition of digital competence (for students and for all citizens), and digital teaching competence (for teachers, and which includes instrumental competence as well as methodological competence). We will have to focus on these two in a much more intense way than has been done until now. But in order to do so with guarantees of success, it is necessary for the Administrations to resolve, first, the first gap. As Professor Albert Carreras recently said, referring to citizens in general and the elderly in particular, it is necessary to develop mass digital literacy measures , for both students and their families.
But we would be blind if we only looked at the navel of the school. We have to realise the importance of having the Internet for economic activity: not only for studying, for information or entertainment; but for trading, doing business, and also accessing institutional and commercial services. In recent days, many people have used Internet access to avoid leaving home to shop and to receive different types of support that they needed. In this way, they have been able to contribute to limiting the spread of infections, acquiring the necessary products through electronic transactions.
The effect it has had on the educational field has also been felt, to a certain extent, in the economic and productive sector. Some businesses have already seen the wolf's ears, and have begun to develop solutions based on electronic commerce, or have created new products that can be accessed from home. In this sense, the pandemic will probably accelerate the transformation of many businesses, forced by the need to survive in a different context than they had anticipated. Hence the importance of promoting the acquisition of digital competence for all citizens, as we referred to earlier, and of beginning to promote and support all those who want to transform their companies to face what is being called the "new normal". Some city councils, with the help of certain foundations, are planning intensive fibre optic installations in their municipalities, to provide access to all their residents and facilitate, for example, teleworking, which until now was difficult for them due to the connectivity shortages they suffered.
Internet traffic has grown due to confinement up to 80%. This is a fact. In the long run, the increase in traffic will benefit, no matter what, telecommunications companies. So, what will be their action in this regard? Where is their solidarity right now? I am not in favour of excessive standardisation of things, which only allows them to be done out of obligation; but in extreme cases like this, those who exploit others without any responsibility or corporate ethics are exposed. And it is in these cases that government actions are fully justifiable.
Now is the time to commit to declaring Internet access a universal right, and it is the national governments, with the support of supranational organizations, who are responsible for making it effective. So that we can be prepared in the future when similar situations affect us. But also because it is the instrument that allows people to expand their access to information, education and culture, essential elements of the growth of human beings and societies.
