Impact of covid-19 pandemic on accessibility and gap in education quality of secondary and higher secondary students: a general study of Kolkata and its surrounding areas, West Bengal, India

Background: The entire world is now suffering from different crises for the COVID-19 pandemic. The education sector is one of the most tremendously affected sectors in this pandemic driven situation. India has millions of students at the school level which were affected by the shifting of the educational platform from offline to online. Objective: This study has attempted to analyze the accessibility status and gap in the quality of education in this pandemic situation. This study has been conducted from the perspective of secondary and higher secondary students of Kolkata and surroundings in terms of their spatial location and economic condition. Method: An online survey along with some restricted field survey and phone call interviews were conducted with a structured questionnaire. The random sampling method has been applied to a total of 423 students. Result: Study shows that there were major variations in accessibility among spatial locations of students. In terms of economic condition, it can be said that mainly very low income class and lower-income groups were having different problems in meeting basic requirements for online education thus their level of accessibility was very low in comparison to students of higher-income groups. A major portion of students mainly belonging to lower-income groups was completely detached from online education due to their economic constraints. Chi-square analysis has been also conducted to confirm the significant associations of accessibility status with spatial location and income classes. Conclusion: Strategies must be taken in order to fulfill the basic needs of the students to avail online education platform in terms of their location and economic condition irrespective of their vulnerable position. We have to make sure that basic education should be available to all through any platform and circumstances.