When analysing the Covid-19 pandemic potential consequences on education, it is evident that it had adverse effects on the existing educational inequalities worldwide. However, little is known about how the digital divide have worsened the conventional educational system and reinforced pre-existing gender inequalities among the historically marginalised communities. This research paper explores how the pandemic, along with digital divide, deteriorated the educational system among the socially deprived groups (i.e. tribals also known as indigenous or Adivasis) and place them in a disadvantageous position. The paper reflects on how the Covid-19 pandemic re-configured the pre-existing issues of educational inequalities and how the digital dived have been manifested in a way that has particularly affected the young tribal girls. For this study, semi-structured interviews with tribal students, their parents and teachers residing in a remote area of Jharkhand, India, were conducted to understand their experiences of shifting to online education mode. Other than accessibility and infrastructure issue, the findings reveal that the elements of cultural and social issues (related to perceived benefits of education for girls and mindset or beliefs parents and teachers towards effectiveness of digital mode of education delivery) create and reinforce the digital divide for the tribal girls in the hinterlands. Based on the information collected from the interview, the study emphasises on re-thinking the digital learning ecosystem and provide policy recommendations to counteract the worsening digital divide and educational inequalities among socially deprived groups.

在分析 Covid-19 大流行对教育的潜在影响时，很明显它对全球现有的教育不平等产生了不利影响。然而，人们对数字鸿沟如何恶化传统教育体系并加剧历史上被边缘化的社区中预先存在的性别不平等知之甚少。本研究论文探讨了大流行以及数字鸿沟如何使社会贫困群体（即部落也称为土著或原住民）的教育系统恶化) 并将它们置于不利的位置。该论文反映了 Covid-19 大流行如何重新配置​​先前存在的教育不平等问题，以及数字潜水如何以特别影响年轻部落女孩的方式表现出来。在这项研究中，对居住在印度贾坎德邦偏远地区的部落学生、他们的父母和教师进行了半结构化访谈，以了解他们转向在线教育模式的经历。除了可访问性和基础设施问题外，调查结果还表明，文化和社会问题的要素（与女孩接受教育的感知益处以及父母和教师对有效实施数字教育模式的心态或信念有关）造成并加强了儿童的数字鸿沟。腹地的部落少女。