admin The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has produced far-reaching consequences for the educational landscape. Digital modalities of education have gained salience and virtual modes of teaching-learning are now part of the new normal. In the backdrop of such a world order, the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) has vocalized the need to include digital education in the list of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The objective is to attain equity in learning, including tertiary learning. The petition will be formally presented to the UN to make education more inclusive and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. The petition requests the addition of this objective to the SD 4 group of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Digital Divide
According to a recent survey conducted by ACU, the opportunities of digital education are severely skewed. It revealed an astoundingly great digital divide between the Global North and Global South- due to a lack of digital infrastructure, access to data, etc. Additionally, the petition will highlight the salience of remote learning for all, especially during the current health crisis. The goal is to secure more resources so as to enable students to successfully undertake remote learning, whenever necessary in the future. Dr. Joanna Newman, the Secretary of ACU, was quoted addressing the issue, “we will be lobbying the UN when we have high-level policy dialogues about higher education and through the sustainable development networks route, and the commonwealth education ministers’ meeting, to say that digital infrastructure and digital pedagogy are an absolute priority.”
Public-Private Partnerships to Eradicate this Divide
ACU recommends partnerships between governments and private investors. The funding needed to eradicate this digital divide must be secured through outside financing. It calls for the university leaders, telecommunication companies, global employers and students to come together to develop a common agenda for the booming future of digital higher education. Under Sustainable Development Goal Four, 10 targets have been set including target number three on the right to post-secondary education. It seeks to ensure “equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university”. Equity in the digital learning space is absolutely indispensable in the current world order.
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