Name of the Asset | Do Inequalities in Access to Smartphones and the Internet Lead to Poor Learning Outcomes? Evidence from Rural India
Type of Asset | Research
Date | January 2026
DOI | 10.69814/wp/2025106
SUMMARY
While the literature on technology and education is growing in India, specifically after the COVID-19 pandemic, yet there is a lack of evidence to date on understanding the inequalities in access to smartphones and internet and how it determines students learning outcomes. In this paper, using a recent nationwide rural household education survey, we examine socioeconomic inequalities in access to smartphones and internet and how they matter for children’s learning level in reading, math and language skills. We find significant socioeconomic variations in access to smartphones and internet among rural households in India - internet use is higher among rich and educated households than poor and less educated counterparts. We also find some evidence suggesting that access to smartphones and internet in the household produces learning gains in reading, math and language skills for children, with considerable variations across households’ socioeconomic positions. In a context where technology is increasingly integrated in educational transactions, our results have important policy implications for India and other developing countries. The study contributes novel insights to a nascent body of research in India on the impact of technology on student learning outcomes, as well as to a wider literature concerning technology and educational inequalities.
AUTHOR | Pradeep Kumar Choudhury
COUNTRY AND/OR REGION | India
PROGRAMME | Global Development Conference 2025: Call for Papers
