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The essay argues that while digital literacy is essential for the 21st-century workforce, its emphasis can worsen educational inequalities, particularly in low-income regions like the Philippines during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited access to devices and stable internet disproportionately affects disadvantaged students, widening the academic gap. To address these issues, initiatives must prioritize equity, accessibility, and foundational literacy skills alongside digital training.

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Castro Alfred Gerard
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6 views

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The essay argues that while digital literacy is essential for the 21st-century workforce, its emphasis can worsen educational inequalities, particularly in low-income regions like the Philippines during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited access to devices and stable internet disproportionately affects disadvantaged students, widening the academic gap. To address these issues, initiatives must prioritize equity, accessibility, and foundational literacy skills alongside digital training.

Uploaded by

Castro Alfred Gerard
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Alfred Gerard M.

Castro Purposive Communication


BTLED ICT 1-1 ` Ma’am Jaze Marco
How Digital Literacy Worsens Inequality
An Argumentative Essay on Khan, N., Sarwar, A., Chen, T. B., & Khan, S. (2022), 'Connecting
Digital Literacy in Higher Education to the 21st-Century Workforce,'
The research by Khan, N., Sarwar, A., Chen, T. B., & Khan, S. (2022) highlights the
critical role of digital literacy in preparing students for the 21st-century workforce. However,
while exploring the study, I realized a pressing issue: the emphasis on digital literacy often
exacerbates educational inequalities, particularly during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
This was especially evident in third-world countries like the Philippines, where much of the
population lives in poverty. During the pandemic, less fortunate students faced severe
disadvantages due to limited access to devices, stable internet connectivity, and supportive
learning environments. These challenges reveal that in future unforeseen events, these inequities
could reappear, disproportionately affecting those in poverty-stricken areas. To ensure digital
literacy initiatives truly reduce the gap, they must prioritize equity and accessibility, especially in
nations with widespread economic challenges.
Although digital literacy is a key skill in the 21st century, the emphasis on digital
literacy will widen the academic gap between students from different socio-economic
backgrounds. Access to digital resources, from good internet connection to updated devices, is
still uneven. We know that many low-income students can’t reasonably afford such provisions
and, as a result, find themselves disadvantaged when compared with their peers. Such
inequities in turn contribute to a lack of access to opportunity/academic success and skill
acquisition.
The high cost of digital tools and limited access to quality education has created a huge
gap. Wealthy schools have high-level digital literacy programs; underfunded schools lack
funding and trained teachers. As result, the poor students are left behind for the necessary
digital skills to prepare them for future market. Efforts to remedy the problem, like giving
students devices, often don’t take the underlying issue into account, like consistent access to
the internet or technical support, economists say.
While some argue that digital literacy helps democratize knowledge, such programs
rarely acknowledge the deeper, structural problems. For example, merely distributing devices
that lack an internet connection or offering text that is relevant to students’ cultures will not
support marginalized students in the least. On top of that, an overemphasis on digital skills could
detract from a focus on their foundations of literacy and numeracy, which will still matter a lot
for success across the board. To address these problems, governments and schools will have to
spend money on cheap internet access, devices and teacher training, to ensure all students have
equations. Public-private partnerships and community-based initiatives can begin to close that
gap. Closing these gaps will allow all students, regardless of background, to compete in the
digital age.
References:

 Barrot, J. S., Llenares, I. I., & Del Rosario, L. S. (2021). Students’ online learning
challenges during the pandemic and how they cope with them: The case of the
Philippines. Education and Information Technologies, 26(6), 7321–7338.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10589-x
 Brooks-Gunn, J., & Duncan, G. J. (1997). The effects of poverty on children. The Future
of Children, 7(2), 55. https://doi.org/10.2307/1602387
 Khan, N., Sarwar, A., Chen, T. B., & Khan, S. (2022). Connecting digital literacy in
higher education to the 21st century workforce. Knowledge Management & E-Learning
an International Journal, 46–61. https://doi.org/10.34105/j.kmel.2022.14.004
 Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2008). Digital Literacies: concepts, policies and practices.
In Peter Lang Publishing eBooks. http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/27788/
 Roy, P. (2018). Effects of poverty on education in India. SSRN Electronic Journal.
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3640322
 Warschauer, M. (2007). The paradoxical future of digital learning. Learning Inquiry, 1(1),
41–49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11519-007-0001-5

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