Internet For All

By Digital Empowerment Foundation

Published on: June 15, 2023

Internet for all is one of the goals of DEF to ensure that lack of internet doesn’t add on to the already existing forms of exclusions. DEF strives to ensure digital inclusion which in turn bridges the gaps in all other exclusions by providing the access among the marginalized communities.

In the age where most people have set up their lives living each moment in the presence of the internet, imagining places and situations where availability of the internet is scarce might seem like a deviation from the norm. It is very easy to take the internet connection as a given while we move about in our lives consuming from and contributing to the digital world. This luxury can only be perceived as such when one looks at the vast majority of the rural population who are completely oblivious to the presence of computers or the internet. 

While it is hard to imagine students living a life without any trace of digital footprints, there are many places across India where the young minds have no access to a whole different digital world. Kashmir is one such place where lack of electricity and internet connection is accepted as a norm within the communities. 14-year-old children from Anantnag, Kashmir were completely unaware about digital devices. Digital Empowerment Foundation and Stears organization have provided some computers in his school because of which students like him are slowly getting familiar with the computers. In a place where it is hard to find people who have any knowledge about computers, DEF has been working to intr/oduce digital literacy and basic computer knowledge to start with. 

Starting from scratch to be able to understand about the different parts of a computer, work on MS Office tools and operate the system, Musaib has learnt a lot in a span of six months and is eager to learn a lot more. It is hoped to see more such interventions bring the digital world closer to many more places in Kashmir.