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DIGITAL GAP BETWEEN RUSSIAN SCHOOLS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR STUDENTS’ LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES DURING CORONA CRISIS
During the COVID-19 pandemic and the allover shift to remote learning, the need for sufficient material and technical equipment in schools has become very urgent. Forced to hold their classes online, many teachers face a shortage of gadgets and ICT skills to teach successfully.
Russia is no exception in this situation. Despite three waves of digitalization, during which schools were equipped with computers and other devices, many of them were poorly prepared for online learning. In part, this is the consequence of the large territory and decentralized educational policy for schools’ equipping, because of which schools in some regions and municipalities have become more prepared for the challenges of the pandemic.
This paper examines the digital gap between Russian schools and its growth over the past 10 years. The differences in the material and technical base of schools and in their financial capabilities for the acquisition and purchase of new equipment are shown. Also, there are analyzed the differences in the teachers’ qualifications and their digital opportunities at school. Finally, there is shown the relationship between all these differences and the educational outcomes of students from different regions and municipalities.
The results of the study make it possible to single out some territories where low access to digital resources negatively affected the students’ exam results and their choice of further educational trajectory. First, these are residents of remote regions of Siberia and the Far East, where the digital lag of schools overlayed on the infrastructural problems. As a result, these students were the first to be most affected by the forced shift to remote learning. Thus, the coronavirus crisis became a litmus test and widens the digital gap in Russian education.