Digital Classrooms in Crisis: Powering Education Amid Conflict

• Minahil Zahid
• Oct 25, 2024
• 3 min read

Educational Digitalisation can be a lifeline in conflict zones where traditional schooling becomes impossible. With schools destroyed, teachers displaced and classroom attendance for students becoming highly risky due to the threats of security and violence. Technology offers a way to bridge the gap in educational experience. However, though digital education has promising future potential, it also presents great challenges specifically in highly volatile areas like Gaza.

Technology has allowed students to receive receive education remotely, avoiding the dangers associated with physically attending school. Platforms such as Zoom and Google Classroom have given teachers the opportunity to safely teach from home. Students can use their smartphones, tablets or laptops to continue learning by attending lectures, taking interactive quizzes and assignments even if they are not able to attend school physically.

In Syria’s Al Hol camp, the self-learning program by UNICEF allows a children like 17-year-old Yaqeen to go back to school after being forced out of it by displacement and early marriage. With digital support, Yaqeen is now learning again through classes on her tablet. She wants to become a nurse, and this initiative provides children in crises with critical educational opportunities, nurturing learning as well as hope.

Of course, in conflict zones, digitalised education would be different from that in other countries. The content being taught will be catered specifically to the area being culturally relevant and in the same language. Learning resources would also include trauma-sensitive education courses and video lessons to help students understand and come to terms with certain events taking place in the conflict zone. Learning resources created especially for kids impacted by conflict give kids not only a place to learn but also an emotional release that is essential for preserving a healthy mental health in kids who have experienced trauma.

Although digital learning has countless benefits, it also poses considerable barriers. While Gaza is facing a war, infrastructure is destroyed which is why students cannot access these digital learning tools. Power outbreak and inconsistent internet connectivity makes access even more difficult. Students cannot use their smartphones or tablets to participate in virtual classes or utilize cloud-based resources.

Another drawback of this educational method is the problem of unequal access. Not all students have equal opportunities to benefit from digital education. This can be due to their families having limited resources in the form of devices and internet access. When education becomes more dependent on digital technology, it unintentionally creates a disparity between those who can afford the resources and those who can’t.

Since we know that during a war, attacks are not always done militarily but also digitally. Cyberattacks are common to confuse the opponent. So, such online ventures would be vulnerable to cyberattacks. Students and teachers fear that hostile actors may target their online learning process. Furthermore, like in the recent conflict the Israeli army cut down internet and communication services in Northern Gaza, such targets would bring a halt to digitalized learning.

While digital learning is a powerful tool to ensure that children’s education does not get disrupted, it is not a perfect fix. It can provide continuity and emotional stability to students at different levels in times of war, but it also has its practical limitations, like unreliable infrastructure and unequal access. This is why collaborative efforts become important to promote such methods. Humanitarian organisations or even tech firms could ensure that all students have access to necessary devices and internet access for such digital education techniques to be used. Proper planning can ensure that technology becomes an essential resource to continue education in conflict zones and sustain a bright future for students.