What the coronavirus reveals about the digital divide between schools and communities

With a disproportionate number of school-age children lacking home broadband access, the breadth of the US digital divide has been revealed as schools struggle to substitute in-school resources with online instruction, electronic libraries, streaming videos, and other online tutorials. In the US, there are approximately 480,000 school buses that transport about 25 million students on a  weekly basis to school and back. With newly installed Wi-Fi hotspots, these buses can maintain the integrity of current social distancing. Across the country, students eligible for free or reduced-price meals are being sent to onsite and mobile sites. In fiscal year 2018, the National School Lunch Program provided low-cost and free lunches to 29.7 million children in households with incomes at or below 130% in poverty. Schools and local libraries can partner to bring lending programs for hardware and other internet-enabled devices, including Wi-Fi hotspots, to needy students while they are at these centers.

Assuming most people are online would be the first mistake of policymakers as they work to mitigate our current health risks. The second mistake would be not thinking more globally about why everyone needs to be connected. Today, the problems of the digital divide are manifesting among students. In the future, it will challenge workers forced to move to telework. As we assess the broader impacts and implications of the coronavirus, one thing is clear—we are not effectively using and disseminating 21st century tools to alleviate current and unforeseen problems.