COVID-19 AND THE REPRODUCTION OF SCHOOL INEQUALITIES: A STUDY ON DIGITAL ACCESS IN BASIC EDUCATION

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the unequal conditions of digital access among students in the current pandemic context. The objective is to understand digital access as a cultural capital that generates privileges in a context whose 'teaching modality' is remote. The hypothesis assessed assumes that the stratification of access to digitally based technologies works as a mechanism through which school inequalities would widen. Empirically, the article focuses on the socioeconomic conditions of internet access, use of smartphones, tablets and / or computers among high school students at the Escola de Aplicacao/UFPA. The data used in the elaboration of the analyzes that support this research come from a questionnaire, the result of which reveals the precariousness of access to digital resources by a significant portion of these students. The article concludes that the developments of Covid-19, above all, for the empirical field analyzed, suppose the gap in the link between social origin and school inequalities.