THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN EDUCATION AS A CHALLENGE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TERRITORY

The article considers the prerequisites, factors and consequences of digitalization of social relations in the sphere of education of individual territories within the national state. The purpose of the article is to carry out a comparative analysis of the impact of the digital divide in education on the possibilities for the development of the territory.

Methods of research:
Mass sociological survey of the population, secondary analysis of the data of the conducted studies, analysis of statistical data and analysis of documents.

Authors draw conclusions that the most important prerequisites for the digitalization of social relations in the sphere of education are the transition to a new type of society - information, the acceleration of the development of information and communication technologies, globalization and changes in the qualitative characteristics of the population. Factors determining the unequal access of the population to education and information and communication technologies are the features of the territory and type of residence settlement, the socio-economic status of the individual, which determines its level of readiness for the use of ICT. The digital divide is also largely due to the level of development of the infrastructure of the territory (the availability of broadband Internet, digitalization of TV, the production of IR goods and services, etc.). The authors analyze the dependence of the indices of the territory's IR development and indicators of its investment attractiveness and innovative potential.