Institutional Responsibility and Connectivity Efficiency in Public Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic
A Comparative Analysis of the Digital Divide in Tunja, Colombia (2020–2021)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2026.190304Keywords:
COVID-19, education, educational quality, remote education, technology adoptionAbstract
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted deep structural inequalities in educational connectivity across low- and middle-income countries. This study evaluated the relationship between socioeconomic vulnerability and internet access in 14 public schools in Tunja, Colombia, during the most critical stage of social isolation in 2020 and one year later. An institutional census design was combined with Pearson correlations, paired-samples t-tests, and clustered ordinary least squares regression to analyse school-level connectivity patterns. The mean school-level proportion of students without internet access decreased from 56.5% in 2020 to 32.5% in 2021, corresponding to a 24.0-percentage-point increase in average school-level connectivity (95% CI: 10.7–37.2; p = 0.0018). A strong inverse association between the socioeconomic index and school-level connectivity was observed in both 2020 (r = −0.804, p = 0.00053) and 2021 (r = −0.794, p = 0.00069). Despite government efforts to distribute laptops and SIM cards, some of the most vulnerable institutions, particularly rural and peri-urban schools, showed limited improvement or even deterioration in connectivity. The findings suggest that expanding connectivity is necessary but may be insufficient to achieve educational equity. Digitally inclusive policies should therefore be territorially sensitive and pedagogically grounded if they are to address structural educational inequalities.
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