A distraught 16-year-old boy in southern India has killed himself after accidentally smashing the screen of the smartphone he and his three siblings relied on for remote school learning. Rohit Varak’s parents could not pay to get the phone fixed because his father’s work as a bus driver had dried up during the Covid-19 crisis, with India struggling to contain the world’s second-largest total caseload. The Indian government closed its schools in March with only three out of its 36 states and union territories gradually reopening classrooms – Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and the Punjab – with all lessons switched to online. Rohit and his siblings, who live in Goa, considered themselves fortunate to share one smartphone, local media reported. The incident has again highlighted how difficult it is for huge swathes of Indian students to access education virtually, with affordable access to technology out of reach for most people.
