DIGITAL EQUITY: A CHALLENGE TO BE FULFILLED.

I intend to unveil the future,
I dare to claim my aim,
Give me a slot to fit in,
I would brighten in the frame.

In this ever-changing & tech-savvy era, it would be no exaggeration to assert that communication has attained new, advanced & faster dimensions. What took previous generations a series of efforts has now become a simplified tool for the present generation, promising to be still modified for posterity.
-changing. It’s rather apt to mention here that every field and system has equipped itself with the weapon of technology. People no longer have to wait in the long queue or sweat accomplishing the tasks, devoting a number of hours to executing them. Just a click of selected options and the work is done!
But it’s now imperative to state here that access to technology is still limited for common people. Due to a disparity between economic status of people in this nation, many are unable to gain from this modern technology. Even though it is time & cost effective, once acquired, it is still a dream for many.
So where lies the initiation? How to enable digital equity for all? Several institutions of higher studies provide laptops to students. Even the government has tried to provide laptops & computers to the students pursuing higher studies, subject to terms and conditions. But schools still have a long way to go, to incorporate technology in its desired state. Although many schools are having an access for the convenience of students, but there are still loopholes which refuse to vanish.
As globalization turns more tech-effective, there seems no place for illiterates in technology. There is need to chisel ways and means to provide tools and technology to the students. They need to understand the relevance of digital world which is taking over non-digital one. Lacking in this sphere would demoralize their spirits in future. It would be severely hampering their prospects in every field, education, social and economic.
Now the million-dollar question which opens its mouth wide is, how to realise this dream. If we envisage a better future for our nation, we need to arm our
students with resources which enable them to rub their shoulders with their counterparts in developed nations. Now an excuse to be ignorant is none the less but ridiculous.
It’s a responsibility of schools now, & teachers in turn. Teachers themselves need be tech savvy, in the first place. It’s time to switch to integrated computer technology. Teaching aids have to be modernized. Students are excessively enthusiastic and potentially energized. They need to be served with interesting mode of learning.
There is no point in feeling proud over lack of tech knowledge. Digital equity has to be incorporated in every life. A definite strategy may be planned, so that every student can be a part of technology. Mobiles, definitely, have served a major purpose, with even basic ones providing tech access. But size does matter ! a big screen is handy and convenient to delve into the world of technology.
School is the best place which can impart basic and elementary knowledge of digital world. Students are enough competent to learn on their own, once groomed into that stage. We need to empower each and every student with technology so that life becomes simpler, easier and faster!
Let’s not play the same old tune of past. Let’s beat the drum for the commencement of a new world, a digital world, wherein lies the most wanted dream of today, digital equity.

No more of old ways needed here,
No more of ignorance in this sphere,
A bright new world is peeping through.
It’s the right time now to bid past adieu
(The writer is PGT English in Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 3, ONGC, Surat)