When the pandemic broke out, parents had to try quickly to get enough computers to teach their children online. Even if they did, the next big challenge was to give multiple people many hours of online access.

Jessica Rosenworcel, one of five commissioners at the US communications agency Federal Communications Commission (FCC), had long warned of Covid – 19 of a “homework gap”. This is the problem confronting communities in which children have no internet access due to a lack of infrastructure, because their families cannot afford it or for both reasons.

The current one The FCC broadband standard includes a download speed of at least 25 megabits per second. In rural areas, where a study by the Pew Research Center estimates a third of Americans do not have broadband access, these speeds are unknown. For further Pew data, which certifies access to broadband for around three quarters of urban and suburban households, you have to know: In the current FCC cards, the area of ​​a zip code is considered to be well supplied with broadband if a single household has access .

In light of these issues, Rosenworcel is passionate about the FCC updating the so-called E-rate program: a 1996 established federal educational technology service, schools and Libraries offers discounted internet access. Technology Review spoke to her about her plans to use the program to bridge the homework gap.

Technology Review: How did you get on the term ” Homework gap “come?

Jessica Rosenworcel: When I was the When I joined FCC, I decided to go to e-rate-beneficiary schools. No matter where I went, urban or rural America, big cities or small towns, I heard the same things from teachers and administrators: “The E-Rate program is great. We now have these devices that we can use in all classrooms But when our students go home in the evening, not all of them have reliable internet access. ”

Children sat in the school parking lot with school laptops that were borrowed until late in the evening and tried to do their homework because this was the only place they could get online. Or they would do their homework in fast food restaurants with a helping of french fries.

Seven out of ten teachers do homework that requires internet access. However, the FCC data consistently shows that one in three households does not have broadband. I started calling this overlap “homework divide” because that part of the digital divide needed its own label.

And then came the pandemic, right? We sent tens of millions of children home and told them to take online classes. But the data suggests 17 millions of them don’t make it there. This turns this homework gap into an educational gap, and I’m concerned that if we don’t correct it, it will turn into a long-term gap in opportunities.

Why does in digital inequality in the US?

Our geographical differences have wonderful effects, but also consequences. It takes some work to make sure everyone is connected. But we’ve already done it once: with electricity according to the rural electrification law and with simple telephony. We can do it with broadband too.

At the beginning of the pandemic, many immigrant families and people without internet access were told they could get discounted data rates. But that was difficult in terms of papers and costs. How did the FCC address this issue?

I can be loud and relentless, but I can’t always convince my colleagues. I am convinced that we can update the E-Rate program using existing laws and support schools, for example by lending out WiFi hotspots. Because we don’t, images like that of two girls sitting outside a Taco Bell store in Salinas, California, go viral. Not to have lunch, but because of the free WiFi signal. Students sit in hot cars to attend classes and do homework. Shame on the FCC for not making updating E-Rate a priority to tackle this crisis.

Which kids hit the homework gap strongest?

It has a disproportionately large influence on communities of color, is disproportionate