Abstract:

Digital inequality research has increasingly moved beyond binary measures of access to examine usage and outcomes. However, less attention has been paid to how institutional infrastructures mediate these dimensions in resource-differentiated contexts. This study investigates multi-level digital inequality across three socio-economically stratified districts in the Central Region of Ghana. Drawing on a convergent mixed-methods design, we analyse survey data from 854 basic school students across 24 schools, complemented by interviews with 12 students and 10 teachers and ethnographic classroom observations. Findings reveal a layered structure of inequality. First-level disparities persist: internet access was reported by 70.2% of students in the resource-endowed district compared to 50.6% and 57.7% in moderately and poorly endowed districts. Second-level inequalities are evident in continuity and recency of use, with significantly higher proportions of long-gap users in less-resourced districts. Despite high levels of entertainment-oriented engagement (75.7% video consumption), substantial proportions report academic uses, including assignment completion (72.1%) and online research (58.9%), challenging deficit narratives of student motivation. Qualitative evidence identifies a pronounced institutional mediation gap: school-based connectivity is limited, digital instruction relies heavily on teacher-funded data and personal devices, and participation is often observational rather than experiential due to bandwidth and hardware constraints. We argue that digital inequality in this context is structurally embedded and institutionally mediated rather than motivationally driven.

The study advances technology-enhanced learning research by demonstrating that pedagogical integration cannot be analytically separated from infrastructural ecology. Sustainable digital inclusion requires systemic alignment between district-level infrastructure, school provisioning, and classroom practice.

Keywords:

Digital inequality, Internet access continuity, Institutional mediation, Rural education, Ghana.