Social and Educational Survey: Elderly enumerators feel the digital divide

Enumerators of the Social and Educational Survey in Bengaluru seem to be facing a digital divide.

The app, enumerators say, frequently freezes after KYC checks, location pins open in the wrong place, and daily survey targets keep fluctuating. While the younger staff are able to navigate these issues more easily, older enumerators lament that they have limited familiarity with digital systems and go blank when the app freezes or location goes wrong. 

“The digital tools are meant to make the survey quick and efficient, but for us, it has not been very helpful,” said a 50-year-old surveyor, assigned the enumeration work in Ramaswamy Palya.

“We are used to recording data in registers for surveys and have limited computer knowledge because we don’t access it on a daily basis. Even for phones, many of us don’t know much apart from YouTube or WhatsApp,” he said, adding that younger staff are finding it easier and completing surveys faster. “Recently, I went for a survey and a boy suggested I update my phone. People are trying to help, but we don’t really know how to manage everything because the training didn’t cover all these issues,” he added.

Data, battery-intensive app

Enumerators also pointed out that the app and software consume large amounts of mobile data and drain battery quickly, and that many were advised to use upgraded or 5G-enabled phones, as older 4G devices run slowly, or crash while entering details mid-way.

“The app consumes data and the battery dies in a few hours. Between surveys, we go to multiple shops and households to charge our phones,” one of the enumerators said.

Many enumerators said they have been doing daily data recharges and, in some cases, purchased power banks at their own expense. “All of this is an additional expense. These resources should be considered and compensated for by the authorities,” they added. 

“We write everything manually so that nothing is lost if the software crashes,” said a PU college lecturer posted in South Bengaluru. While this slows the process, it has become necessary to keep the work moving, he said.

Challenging format

Enumerators said that the survey’s format itself is challenging. Some questions require typing followed by others which use codes that are not always listed, and multi-choice questions add to the complexity.

“We are not used to this kind of data entry. It slows us down, and the residents waiting for the survey get impatient,” an enumerator in her 50s, surveying in Kottigepalya said.

Targets keep changing

Enumerators have also been dealing with daily targets displayed on the app being changed. Each person is assigned to complete a certain number of households, but the count sometime changes, enumerators said.  

One surveyor said his initial assignment was 285 households but after completing 34, the app on October 8 suddenly showed 500. “I reached out to the nodal official and they told us to go by the original number, but we worry we’ll later be asked to complete the new total,” he said, pointing out that several PU lecturers assisting with the survey were relieved on the same day due to Bengaluru University midterms and this concerns them as they feel that the load may shift on them. 

Enumeraters on the receiving end

Despite performing duties assigned to them and visiting households multiple times when residents are unavailable or ask them to return later, some enumerators have been facing abuse and ill-treatment. Some people, they say, question why the enumerators have even come. One enumerator in Banashankari III Stage said that head of one household had used an expletive while literally shooing him away.

Enumerators have also been instructed to submit a report identifying households that are not participating. “GBA officials want us to record details of non-participating households. If we fail to report this information, we are asked why those houses were missed,” an enumerator carrying the survey in Pulakeshi Nagar said. On the other hand, those who refuse to participate often refuse to share any information, including phone numbers, saying that they fear numbers being “misused.”