Donald Gaminitillake—

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How do we solve the Digital Divide in Sri Lanka

Donald Gaminitillake Dip. B.E.
lankaprinter@gmail.com

The word we hear most in the IT industry is “Digital Divide”. This is a result of the interaction among a number of variables which include social, economical and political. These factors are interrelated in a complex manner so that interpreting any single individual factor effecting digital divide is very difficult. It will be easy if any breaks this into smaller components and see how it affect the society.

It could be divided into two basic parts as IT infrastructure and Educational infrastructure. This also could be allotted to Domestic (national) level, Industry level and International level. IT revolution emerged and started disseminating worldwide in 1995 just ten years ago.

When the domestic sector is taken the “Digital Divide” was based on inequality in income distribution and unable to use local language in computer. In industry it was due to gaps in scale, growth and productivity.

The policy makers make comments, how to narrow the “Digital Divide” between “haves” and “have-nots”. However such divide per se should not be construed as a negative trend as the living standards of the “haves” and “have-nots’ are both upgrading. In a developing country like Sri Lanka living standard of “haves” is increasing at a greater rate than the “have-nots”. The gap between the two inevitable, widens as a national economy grows at aggregate levels. In this type of a case the primary objective of the policymaker is not to narrow the gap between the two segments since the living standard is increasing on both groups but to introduce policies customized to meet differing demands in differing segments.

One area that I would like to stress is functional literacy in terms of using English is significantly lower in rural Sri Lanka compared to urban areas. Given that the English is the medium most commonly used in internet the “Digital Divide” between urban and rural areas can be considered much greater than the literacy divide.

This factor has been challenged at a small rural village in Sri Lanka. Horizon Lanka Academy has been able to produce the best GCE O/L results in the village. English has become the easiest subject for everyone it seems. 3 students have got A passes for English. This is the first time students from Mahavilachchiya got A passes for English.

What if these children in rural areas were given the opportunity to use the computer in their own mother tongue either Sinhala or Tamil. They will definitely out performs the urban counter parts. This is the fear that our policy makers have. The digital wave of thinking is growing like a “tsunami” in the rural areas.

Access to the internet typically requires a computer with a set of software, a modem, a telephone line and subscription to an internet service provider (ISP). Given the present levels of income in Sri Lanka, the cost of these requirements can be extremely expensive for the ordinary citizens. The high cost of internet access is attributed to the monopolistic structure of telecommunication industry. Even though there are several companies in Sri Lanka but the real coverage is very low. For 19 million people SLT land lines which have been commenced a service a century ago is less than a million against two million subscribers for mobile communications. To make the internet more accessible to the ordinary citizens, the concept of tele-centers appeared. The internet-café takes over the burden of hardware and software while the user pay only for the usage either in hourly basis or minute basis. These cafes may have made the internet accessible to the middle class who knows the English language but inaccessible to the typical poor country dweller who earns less than Rs 100 per day. Also Sri Lanka, internet do not provide much value or relevance to the rural population whose main livelihood is agriculture.

Our country is agriculture dominant and people are mostly engaged in farming and related activities. Access to internet is very difficult because they lack the appropriate education and capabilities. First priority is to provide lifeline safety nets. e.g. Dial-up phones, e-learning aid in local languages and micro banking.

The available human capital can be divide into two parts Physical Labour and Mental Labour. Physical labour is more abundant. Modern Industrial development provides opportunities for workers to enhance their skills and enable them to tackle work that requires mental aptitudes.

To reduce the gap of “Digital Divide” the Government , The IT industry ,The Educational institutes, The Enterprises and Regional Organizations will have to get together draw up plans for the people. Each segment will have a different responsibility and a task to perform. The most common task would be the communicating language and its function for the people. Computerizing the ISO 9000 quality management standards in Sinhala and Tamil with local community strength is also an important factor. Education Institutes need to copy the model of technical colleges and polytechnics, where focus is on training practically oriented workforce. Enterprises can create websites of information for the local community in the areas of products, end costs, technology, capabilities and about job opportunities with dignity of labour. Unfortunately in my country Sri Lanka none of the above suggestion will not be able to implement until we use both (www.akuru.org) Sinhala and Tamil in the computer