BODVASZILAS, Hungary (AP) — Many students from Hungary’s Roma minority do not have access to computers or the internet and are struggling to keep up with online education during the pandemic. Schools have been closed in Hungary amid a devastating COVID-19 surge, and classes are now being held online. But surveys show that less than half of Roma families in Hungary have cable and mobile internet and 13% have no internet at all. One Roma family in a northeastern Hungarian village said their 12-year-old has fallen behind since he can’t join online classes and that the situation is the same for most Roma children. In one report, a government official acknowledged that for poor Roma children, “the transition to digital education multiplied their already existing disadvantages.”
