The number of children living in poverty in the UK rises year after year, but the pandemic has revealed a whole new kind of modern day poverty.
Digital poverty is where children are without access to appropriate hardware, software or reliable access to the internet. This creates a divide between kids with and without internet and causes a negative impact on a child’s education.
The amount of children living in poverty has seen an alarming increase in previous years and this number is still on the rise.
Although this issue was clear pre-covid, digital poverty has caused the biggest divide in children’s education during the pandemic. When lockdowns were introduced and schools were closed, education moved exclusively online. This instantly placed the most underprivileged kids at an even greater disadvantage.
Many parents and teachers were left in the dark without a solution to this fairly new issue. Children in poverty have struggled without internet or essential technology before lockdowns but when this becomes entirely essential, what else can be done?
Some charities were able to step in and donate laptops to school children working from home. Laptops 2 Kids is a charity based in Herefordshire which took in used laptops as donations and regifted them to children in need of one.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the charity said, “It is sad that we find ourselves in the position where, in such a technology-driven country, access to basic technology by some children remains an issue.”
“So it is only right that we act to ensure those most in need across Herefordshire are not pushed even further behind on account of the growing ‘digital divide’ caused by the COVID pandemic.”
The charity has been able to help 243 children so far, with 472 devices recieved and 40 schools are still supporting the cause.
Many people have shared their thoughts on the state of child poverty online.
Telecoms regulator Ofcom has estimated that more than 880,000 children live in a household with internet access only via mobile phone.
Broadband and mobile companies have responded to calls to do more to help students and children struggling with wifi issues in lockdown. Some of the UK’s biggest telecoms companies including BT, which owns mobile companies such as O2, Vodafone, Sky, EE, Virgin Media and Three have launched programmes where they will offer free data and internet to help children and students to access online education.
The senior director of business development at Hyperoptic, Liam McAvoy, said: “Every child deserves to be able to virtually learn and harness the opportunities that are enabled by connectivity. We hope others in the industry join us in providing free connectivity to families that need most.”
It seems bigger companies are playing the role of the government when it comes to such nationwide issues. On an episode of a business podcast, The Business Brunch, guests discussed the issue of Digital Poverty in the UK in 2020. If you want to hear more on the issue and discover the possible solutions to this crisis, the podcast can be heard below.
