How Does Poor Internet Service Affect Rural Students?
With the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, universities and schools across the country were forced to shut down, sending millions of Canadian students back home. While these have been difficult times for all students as they deal with the unique challenges and unpredictable nature of online schooling, Canadian rural students have been impacted particularly hard.
For many urbanites, high speed internet is something we’ve taken for granted. From business growth, to allowing doctors to communicate with patients, to enabling people to work from home, and helping educators teach their students, the internet has been an essential tool in overcoming quarantine. In fact, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) affirmed that the internet is an essential service that should be available to all Canadians in 2016 (Carra). Yet for many rural communities, this is sadly not the case; the CRTC reports that less than 9% of rural Albertan communities have access to high internet speed (50 Mbps download, 10 Mbps upload) (Scheel). This is because unlike urban communities which rely on fibre optic cable, rural communities largely depend on fixed wireless internet, which is slower, less reliable, and more expensive.
As a result of this digital divide, a phenomenon termed the “homework gap” has emerged, wherein rural students are unable to finish their homework and cannot use online resources (BLiNQ Network). This has led some students to take extreme measures for their education, such as sitting in parking lots near fast food joints for the Wi-Fi hotspots, or visiting city-dwelling friends where the internet is more reliable (Fregni). For teachers, the lack of broadband wireline services means that video lessons through Zoom or GoogleMeets are inaccessible and they are unable to stream instructional videos for their students. Instead, many teachers are left scrambling to find alternatives (Urquhart). Routinely, this homework gap leads to an achievement gap whereby rural students fall behind academically and do not develop the necessary skills for future professions or higher education (BLiNQ Network).
It is also important to recognize that while COVID-19 has exacerbated these problems, these issues have existed for decades. Rural students have long experienced less technological training, limited access to information, and more difficulties in applying to universities through using online portals. Therefore, it is imperative that these issues be addressed even after the resolution of the pandemic.
Steps Moving Forward
There exists both a social and economic reason for the current state of rural internet, and therefore, two steps need to be taken. First, communities need to acknowledge the importance of the internet. Unlike traditional infrastructure projects like buildings, roads, electric systems, or sewage, internet infrastructure is both more abstract and modern. Consequently, many people (especially rural communities themselves) fail to recognize its utility and often do not prioritize its implementation. With the novel challenges brought about by COVID-19, the public is slowly understanding how slow internet impedes student learning, but community awareness continues to be a major obstacle. Aside from education, better internet will also play a major role in propelling telehealth, business, and tourism. We need to educate communities about the cruciality of the internet and its role as a basic necessity for operating in the 21st century; failing to do so will result in whole communities falling behind.
The second step that needs to be taken is to advocate for government support. The major economic obstacle arises from the fact that it is ultimately not financially profitable for internet service providers (ISPs) to create the network infrastructure for rural communities with such low population densities. As such, in order to get broadband access to rural communities, provincial and federal support is a necessity. All Canadian students, regardless of inhabitance, should be given access to high quality broadband. Advocating for this issue and pressuring government officials are vital strategies in ensuring that these underserved communities get the services they need.
In 2020, the Canadian federal government introduced the Universal Broadband Fund which proposed to provide high speed internet (50/10 Mbps) to 98% of Canadians by 2026 as a means of assisting rural Canadians (Scheel). While this definitely a step in the right direction, more needs to be done. First, we need to ensure that the federal government honours their promise and that they consistently meet their targets. As of March 2021, the government has been slow to provide funding, and private companies and ISPs have not actively offered support (Scheel). With the numerous problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it would not be unreasonable to think that the government may abandon this project in the future. Ensuring that the government remains accountable will be the public’s responsibility. The more we voice our concerns, the more likely we are to see real change. Second, we need to also look past 2026. Internet and technology advance rapidly in modern times and what is considered acceptable internet today may not be sufficient by 2026. As the internet evolves and advances, we too will need to adapt our advocacy strategies and ensure that our rural communities also have access to these new services.
In Canada, where our internet prices are one of the highest in the world, it is unacceptable that some of our communities are still being served substandard internet. As society progresses, the internet will continue to become increasingly important and rural students will continue to suffer. If we ever hope to integrate rural communities and students with the rest of Canada, the government, ISPs, and the public need to work together to bridge this digital divide.
Bibliography
Urquhart, Mia. “Online Teaching Resources out of Reach for Many Rural Families | CBC News.” CBC, 12 Apr. 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/rural-internet-education-home-1.5526704.
Written by: Anson Wong
Edited by: Kritika Taparia and Sara Assaf
Campus UNICEF 