Lack of Internet access is evident in the pandemic and inequality increases

The pandemic has aggravated inequality in Internet access in Brazil, which can socially scar children and young people: with the digital divide and the disparity in access to education, the risk increases that children will not be able to have an income higher than their parents’ when these children reach adulthood. The alert comes from the Institute for Mobility and Social Development (IMDS), recently created by economists Arminio Fraga, former president of the Central Bank, and Paulo Tafner.

According to Tafner, the institute’s CEO, it is already certain that the country will worsen in the social mobility indicator between generations, which had been advancing since the 1960s with the universalization of basic education: “One of the main ways to increase social mobility is through education. In the case of Brazil, in the pandemic, this digital divide has widened. Boys and girls in private schools have online classes. And practically no public school had face-to-face or online classes. The possibility of social mobility has been reduced,” he said.