Coronavirus crisis highlights digital divide in South Carolina, state education superintendent says

The novel coronavirus crisis has accentuated the digital divide in South Carolina as well as the need for greater internet access, suggested Molly Spearman, the SC education superintendent. Spearman said digital and technological inequality across the state has "become very apparent," as educational institutions are shuttered and schooling shifts homeward, with parents in some cases tapped overnight as full-time teachers.  When schools were first closed amid a rising tide of COVID-19 cases, a slice of SC school districts were able to transition to a technology-heavy teaching plan, which demands internet access, virtual meetings and the like, Spearman explained. But more than a dozen school districts went, due to community conditions, the pencil-and-paper route – distributing material, collecting it at intervals and evaluating it. "We have seen that divide speak out, because in some counties … there are still areas that families do not have access to the internet," Spearman said. "So that makes it more difficult. So that is certainly a struggle for families."