BANGKOK - Millions of children in Asia risk falling behind because of school closures amid the coronavirus outbreak, with unequal access to the Internet hurting poorer kids as classes go online, technology and human rights experts warned on Friday .
Schools are deploying distance-learning programmes and education applications and platforms, including radio and the Internet to reach students remotely. "Digital exclusion in general reflects and entrenches broader patterns of disadvantage across age, gender, social and economic dimensions," said Professor Julian Thomas, a communications expert at Australia's RMIT University.
Those families also tend to rely on schools, libraries, workplaces and community centres for Internet access, and are"substantially disadvantaged" when these are closed, he said.