[COVID-19] Calcutta High Court issues notice in plea seeking physical reopening of schools and colleges

The Calcutta High Court last week issued notice to the State of West Bengal on a plea seeking physical reopening of schools and colleges in the State, in light of the lack of digital infrastructure available to students [Priyankar Bhattacharya v State of West Bengal and Ors]..The matter was heard by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, who issued notice on the plea and fixed it for hearing on February 14..The petition stated that schools and colleges across the country had been shut since the end of March 2020 with the imposition of the strict nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. While the Union government has allowed states to open educational institutions depending on the local situation since mid-October, many schools and colleges are yet to reopen completely. Meanwhile, online classes and examinations have become increasingly common..Further, the plea highlighted the following problems posed by the digital divide:"i) Widespread dependence and switch to online learning creates an obvious problem of access.ii) In a diverse country like India, where economic disparity is glaring, therefore in such a scenario to close down the gap of access to learning materials through online medium is only a far-fetched dream. Majority of students either lack a digital device, or even they have mobile phones, tablets, laptops to assist online learning...High-dependence on digital/online learning only widens the socio-economic and class disparity.".The petitioner claimed, based on news reports, that only 9 per cent of students who are currently enrolled in any course have access to essential digital infrastructure. Hence, the attempt to make online education an opportunity out of the COVID-19 crisis poses a serious risk of leaving many students, especially the socio-economically disadvantaged, further behind.It was also claimed that disparities in access are visible not only socio-economic but also regional levels; digital infrastructure and connectivity varies from state to state as well as between urban and rural areas.Gender disparities in access to online education was also pointed out by the petitioners."India has among the world’s highest gender gap in access to technology. Only 21% of women in India are mobile internet users, according to Global System for Mobile Communications Association’s 2020 mobile gender gap report, while 42% of men have internet access (Civilsdaily 2020). The report says that while 79% of men own a mobile phone in the country, the number for women is 63%. While there do exist economic barriers to girls owning a mobile phone or laptop, cultural and social norms also play a major part. The male–female gap in mobile use often exacerbates other inequalities for women, including access to information, economic opportunities, and networking.".Further, most households only have one mobile phone, and the same device is used to make day-to-day communication and for online education. The plea added that many teachers are aged faculty members who are not that technically sound."In addition to lack of know-how, they also expressed concern over a dearth of suitable teaching–learning materials, or at least their own knowledge of where to find suitable resources. Teachers across primary, secondary and senior secondary education found it difficult to find resources that are in line with their respective syllabus and medium of teaching," the petitioner submitted. .The petitioner thus sought directions to the Government of West Bengal to re-open all educational institutions..Chief Minister of West Bengal today confirmed that schools for 8th to 12th standard students, colleges ad universities are going to re-start from February 3, 2022 as per a report by Press Trust of India.The plea was filed by Advocate Firdaus Shamim and argued by Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya.