children’s forums, the investigation report by Control Yuan,1 and focus
group discussions, the NHRC found that children in rural areas were
impacted by digital divide:
(1) Schools in rural areas were immediately faced with the
predicament that some students could not attend classes regularly
since they did not have adequate devices or had no devices at all
for remote learning. Among all areas, more than 20% of the
households in Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien, Taitung and
other remote areas did not have sufficient devices for remote
learning. The ratio of students in remote areas without devices
and Internet access at home is higher than city/county average.
Also, in indigenous areas, Internet access is not prevalent or
bandwidth is not sufficient, resulting in "online dropout".
(2) An NGO held an "online discussion on digital learning for
disadvantaged children" during the level-3 alert. It was found that
among 303 rural elementary schools nationwide, 12.5% indicated
that more than 80% of their students needed to use digital devices
provided by the schools in order to access the Internet; 53.1%
requested external donations of devices to access the Internet
because sometimes the network cards, devices and tablets were
not compatible.
Children with Disabilities
5. The NHRC's review of the "Reference Guide to Online Teaching and
Learning for Primary and Secondary Schools" and focus group
discussions revealed that:
(1) In order to protect the right to education of students with
disabilities during level-3 alert, some teachers filmed session
videos and asked parents play them at home as an alternative to
offline class. Yet many students with disabilities were unable to
access the Internet, resulting in online dropout.
(2) The above-mentioned guide was finalized in February 2020
1
The Control Yuan investigation report approved on Feb 17, 2022. (Inadequate Basic Teaching
Facilities and Equipment for Schools in Remote Areas)
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