Is There a Digital Divide Between Urban Students and Migrant Students in China?

Abstract

The digital divide is an important issue that has been addressed in the world for several decades. However, little attention has been paid to the special population that emerged in cities of developing countries: rural migrant workers. Previous studies have shown that family background is a potential determinant of digital inequality among schoolchildren. The study aims to explore whether the disadvantaged conditions of rural migrant workers have an impact on their children (i.e., migrant students). A questionnaire survey and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were conducted to examine the digital divide in information and communication technology (ICT) access, ICT usage, and ICT skill between urban and migrant students. We draw upon 1,230 fifth and eighth grade students from six urban public schools in China. Results indicate that all the indicators of the digital divide are statistically non-significant between the two groups, and the predictor of parental education level is invalid to an extent. Additional analyses suggest that providing equal opportunities like Chinese government for disadvantaged migrant students to enroll in urban public schools would reduce the digital divide between migrant students and urban students.