Exploring Digital Inclusion Strategies for Addressing Educational Inequalities in Rural Context of Pakistan: Students’ Perspectives from PITP Program in Larkana, Pakistan

Abstract

This qualitative, exploratory research paper explores the benefits of digital inclusion policies in reducing the education gap between rural and urban technical education in Pakistan through the lens of participants of the People’s Information Technology Programme (PITP) in SZAB-Tech Larkana. A constructivist approach was employed to collect data by conducting six semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled rural students and analyze thematically to elicit common patterns in their experiences with access to technology, use of digital learning tools and academic challenges. Findings indicate that although digital technologies hold practical promise to enhance conceptual learning, encourage self-directed study, and enhance employment opportunities, students are still confronted with considerable barriers that further divide urban and rural communities and undermine interaction, inspiration, and marketability, including limited technology access, poor internet connectivity, insufficient training in hands-on ICT, outdated institutional technology, and socio-economic and cultural barriers. Although the small, one-institution sample used hinders generalizability, the results provide useful recommendations: improving internet connectivity, updating the laboratory, increasing access time, integrating applied training in ICT into curricula, and providing subsidies on devices and internet access to rural students, providing novel evidence to an underrepresented research field.

Key words: Digital Inclusion, Technical and Vocational Education (TVET, Rural–Urban Education Gap, Digital Divide