Two-thirds of school-age children have no access to the internet at home even as the Covid-19 pandemic makes online education the only possible access to education, the UN said on Tuesday, December 1 .
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In total, 1.3 billion children aged 3 to 17 do not have an Internet connection at home, specifies a joint report by Unicef and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU ).
For the 15-24 age group, the percentage of those who do not have internet access at home is 63%.
"
The fact that so many children do not have access to the Internet at home is no longer a digital divide but a canyon
", worried the head of Unicef, Henrietta Fore.
Not being able to go online deprives these young people of the means "
to compete in the modern economy."
It isolates them from the world,
”she added.
This situation is particularly serious at a time when the pandemic has prompted many countries to close schools temporarily and to switch teaching online.
"
To put it bluntly: the lack of access to the internet deprives the next generations of their future
", hammered Fore.
The report underlines that even before Covid-19, the digital divide was part of the increase in inequalities, giving children thus deprived of access little chance to catch up.
According to the UN, 1 in 20 children of school age are connected at home in low-income countries, compared to 9 in 10 in rich countries.
The worst-off countries are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where only 10% of children can connect at home.