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intervene to reduce the digital divide. connections at affordable rates for
Subsidies could be provided for buying educational purposes.
gadgets and internet connection
rates could be slashed down. The 3. Technophobia
‘TV challenge’, ‘Mobile challenge’ and Adequate training and constant
‘Laptop challenge’ are some challenges technical support should be provided
active in social media where people to teachers and students to get
who can afford, sponsor new or old them familiarized with the tools and
televisions/mobile phones/laptops technology of online teaching-learning.
to needy students so that they can This step helps to reduce the anxiety
access lectures broadcasted on TV or and confusion for both teachers as well
attend lectures online. Through the as students. At times the training for
collaboration of various government the use of online tools and platforms
agencies, NGOs and citizens of the are conducted by the service providers
country this digital divide could be who may not be aware of the extent
reduced if not eliminated.
of technical knowledge of all the
teachers. Therefore, teachers can be
2. Internet connectivity issues
divided into groups of both tech-savvy
Unstable network connection has been teachers and those with less technical
a stumbling block in online education. knowledge. The teachers who are adept
To mitigate this problem teachers often at technology and can learn the new
ask students to switch off their videos processes quickly can act as mentors
and mikes during live online classes. to the others. This would ensure that
This solution to provide some stability all the teachers are gaining an equal
to the internet connection comes with foothold with the new technology and
a price as often the teacher tends to would aid in a smooth transition from
feel a disconnect from the teaching offline to online teaching. A more recent
experience as ultimately, they are talking study which was conducted ten months
to a screen (Mishra et al., 2020). The best after the initial lockdown couldn’t find
solution to handle internet connectivity any significant negative relationship
issues is having wired connectivity between well-being and computer
using optical fibres. However, although anxiety of teachers (Satra, 2021). The
wired connectivity provides reliable result can be attributed to the training
and continuous internet service that that teachers acquired during this
is sufficient for the smooth conduct of period. This clearly shows that with
online lectures, it remains unaffordable constant training and support teachers
for those who are below upper middle can overcome the anxiety and distress
class. Therefore, the Government needs associated with online teaching.
to take steps to mitigate this issue and
improve internet connectivity across 4. Misuse/ online abuse
the nation. Additionally, telecom giants To combat the issue of misuse and
can take the issue up as part of their disturbances created during online
CSR initiatives and provide internet
lectures by people from outside, each

114 Indian Journal of Educational Technology
Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021