As Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen points out, economic growth is only one aspect of the process of economic development. Other economists are also of the view that economic growth and economic development are not synonymous although the former is an indicator of the latter.
Economic growth means an increase in national income, while economic development signifies an improvement in quality of life and standard of living. It means economic growth can be achieved by registering an increase in gross domestic product (GDP), but most people do not see any actual improvements in living standards and therefore cannot be termed as development. Economic development is a policy intervention endeavour to improve economic and social well-being of the people. Economic growth may benefit only a small percentage of people without any contribution to welfare of the common people. America's top 10 per cent now average nearly nine times the income of the bottom 90 per cent. In this way, a country may see higher GDP, but benefits of such a growth may be siphoned into the bank accounts of politicians.
In contrast, economic development means a rise in real per capita income of the people, which necessitates a reduction in income and wealth inequality between top and bottom income brackets. To do so, capacity building of the common people needs to be increasingly pursued. This is where digital education comes into picture. Capacity building is not possible without increased use and improved application of technologies which has turned out to be a major ingredient for economic development.
As one of major technologies of today, information and communications technologies (ICT) plays a dominating role in all socio-economic sectors of a country so much so that the issue of 'digital divide' has become a major concern for development and is recognised as a major predicament to sustainable growth. Digital divide is digital inequality among individuals, households, businesses, or geographic areas, usually at different socioeconomic levels or other demographic categories that need to be addressed along side other socio-economic inequalities to attain sustainable growth. A digital divide is actually a measure of economic and social inequality with regard to access to, use of, or impact of ICT. Digital inequalities are of various dimensions - equipment, skill, social support, and the purposes for which the technology is employed.
In Bangladesh, there has been a noticeable gap between those who have access to ICT and those who do not. Apart from other areas of business, internet literacy has been an important pre-requisite for the current job market in Bangladesh for the last several years. There is now an emerging class of people with proficiency and competency in ICT who are preferred to those who are digitally unskilled in ICT and therefore are lagging behind. Thus, digital inequality has created a socio-economic inequality.
Digital inequality means not only disparity in access to ICT, but also in terms of internet expertise and skill. Now-a-days, social inequality emerges from this technological inequality, because users' skill reflects socio-economic inequities in real life. Digital inequality demonstrates itself in various ways. From technical point of view, it is related to lack of access to internet bandwidth, computation skill, etc. Based on autonomic aspect, it implies users' independence in using technology, at home or at work, under surveillance or unmonitored settings. Sometimes, digital inequality emerges from user's ability to search or download the required information.
The experienced tech savvy users in their own social network may trigger digital inequality. Again, digital inequality can be caused by lack of capability to augment overall economic gain or social capital and thus digital inequality gives rise to social inequality. In addition, digital inequality further intensifies and escalates social inequality. Technology users can use broadband in different ways. The urban users can utilise internet more than their rural counterparts to boost financial, economic and social capital.
According to the World Bank website, about 14.4 per cent of the population in Bangladesh had access to internet in 2015 whereas South Asia's average internet access was 23.63 per cent and the average internet access of lower-middle income countries was 28.62 per cent in the same year.
Currently, there are about 120 million mobile subscribers in the country whereas only 66.86 million people are internet subscribers until September, 2016 (source: Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission). Millions of people, both urban and rural, still remain out of broadband connectivity. This unequal broadband penetration across the country leads to 'information poverty' which can delay the growth of 'Digital Bangladesh'.
'Information poverty', another form of digital inequality, can only be addressed by increasing the broadband penetration. Lack of utilisation of broadband impedes our nation's competitive advantage. A potentially connected labour force at broadband speeds can open up new windows for socio-economic innovations.
However, inequality may prevail in a society even after massive acquisition of internet facilities. As broadband penetration expands, differences in internet access could still remain, and dealing with logistical issue will be of another prime concern. ICT policymakers must adopt contemporary techniques to suit an evolving problem in which tech users can easily leverage the information technology in unequal ways for their own economic betterment.
In our country, most urban areas are given priority for broadband connectivity, and some rural areas are semi-connected and some are not connected at all making way for digital inequality. This gap between urban and rural regions in terms of broadband connectivity will need to be minimized so that our people, regardless of geographic locations can be benefited from improved internet penetration.
E-literacy has to be ensured across the country in order to achieve desired development including Vision 2021 which primarily means the ability to consume internet content and create it. But educating a large community of disconnected people in e-literacy programme is a gigantic task and a strategic policy for dissemination of ICT related information needs to be formulated. The government should encourage different private agencies to include ICT education in their CSR activities and promote e-literacy.
Especially, our telecommunication has a big role to play to get rid of digital inequality by installing high speed internet in rural areas. The government can also integrate special incentives into its workshops and training programmes to motivate people about internet usage.
Smartphone is now another important tool for social connectivity and ICT policymakers will have to devise a policy to incorporate internet connections in smartphones at an affordable price and if possible making it even cheaper by collaborating with the smartphone dealers through subsidy.
Technology is widening social inequality in our daily life. Ensuring digital inclusion, all over the country, will therefore be one of the foremost challenges for the policymakers as information technology is becoming more of a necessity than a luxury. The ICT policymakers should work out a new tactical framework to bridge the digital gap by conducting e-literacy campaigns, integrating information technology into the social safety net programmes, making mobile devices more reasonably priced, and upgrading obsolete legislation. The degree of this challenge is enormous, but it must be met by constructing a healthier, wealthier and socially equitable democratic society in Bangladesh.
Rising income inequality has sparked off fierce political and economic debates, but an important aspect is yet to be explored adequately. We need to know whether the market forces might limit or reverse the trend. Technology has contributed to the rise in inequality, but there are also ways in which technology can also reduce it. Moreover, there is a generation gap as well when it comes to manipulating electronic devices, and many relevant tasks require knowledge of programming or, more ambitiously, entrepreneurial skill. This particular brand of inequality may also change, as the previous generation retires, many more people will have grown up with intimate knowledge of computers. And one never knows that over time, it may become easier to work with computers just by talking to them.
saleh.akram26@gmail.com
Ensuring e-literacy to bridge digital divide
Saleh Akram | Published: February 06, 2017 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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