Digital divide and virtual education: understanding social exclusion through an analysis of public schools in Cali, Colombia

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected countless spheres of urban society on global levels, mainly the lives of those who have been is a historical disadvantage even before the virus arrived.Cali's public elementary school system has not been the exception, being this the reason why this project studies how the pandemic has an impact over the exclusion processes that already existed before the pandemic and how, at the same time, has potentialized new forms of this phenomenon due to the virtual system in which classes are being reached with the purpose of guaranteeing the social distancing. In this manner, exclusion in relation to the concept of digital gap is reviewed, that at the same time can be understood not only from the lack of access and infrastructure but also in terms of digital literacy and capability of tools usage. Finally, a critique is made of the concept of digital gap, that even though is pertinent in a way to acknowledge exclusion, it must be understood as the result of a series of estructural processes that goes beyond pure technology.