Two thirds of school-age kids without internet access: UN

GENEVA: Two thirds of school-age children worldwide have no internet at home, a UN report found on Tuesday, even as pandemic-induced school closures have made online access vital to getting an education.

In all, an estimated 1.3 billion children between the ages of three and 17 do not have internet connections in their homes, said the joint report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The report also found that a similar lack of access among youths and young adults, with 63 percent of all 15 to 24-year-old unconnected at home.

"That so many children and young people have no internet at home is more than a digital gap, it is a digital canyon," Unicef chief Henrietta Fore warned in a statement.

Lacking connectivity prevents young people from "competing in the modern economy. It isolates them from the world," she said.

The report’s findings are particularly worrying, she said, at a time when school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic remain widespread, forcing hundreds of millions of students to rely on virtual learning. "Put bluntly: Lack of internet access is costing the next generation their futures."