Slovakia must pay €3,000 to a girl who could not participate in distance learning due to insufficient access to the internet, according to a court ruling in Prešov on Tuesday in what the pupil’s lawyers claim is Europe’s first digital divide verdict.
During the pandemic, Slovakia administered one of the longest school closures globally. As full-time education was interrupted, distance learning was introduced.
However, as the plaintiff’s lawsuit argues, this kind of learning was only possible with access to the internet and digital technologies, which the girl and her family did not have and the state did not provide.
“For the first time, the Slovak court has highlighted the existing ‘digital divide’ between the majority society and disadvantaged communities – a divide that is getting larger every day in this digital age. The Court now confirmed this is discriminatory and the state must eliminate it,” Vanda Durbáková, the pupil’s lawyer, said.
The court decision could be still appealed, but The Slovak Center for Civil and Human Rights labels it “groundbreaking” and the first of its kind in Europe.
“The court’s decision confirms the serious failures of the state at the time of the pandemic,” Durbáková claims.
The court concluded Slovakia discriminated against access to education, information and freedom of expression “by failing to take appropriate measures to ensure the plaintiff’s equal access to education during the pandemic,” said a spokesperson for The District Court in Prešov.
According to the plaintiff’s grandmother, her granddaughter’s school educated Roma children only by distributing worksheets every week during lockdowns without providing any assistance or feedback.
She decided to pursue a lawsuit because “the school did not teach Roma children as it should have, and I perceived this as discrimination. I am glad that the court agreed with me,” the relative stated.
During the hearing, the Slovak Ministry of Education denied such discrimination against the pupil, saying the introduction of distance learning preserved pupils’ constitutional right to education.
(Natália Silenská | Euractiv.sk)
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