NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE AND ONLINE TEACHER EDUCATION DURING COVID-19: UTOPIA VS REALITY.

The enactment of online learning in higher education is not a new phenomenon and, although having been used more in the Global North developed countries, the adoption has been slower in the Global South. The onset of Covid-19 drove countries globally to consider replacing face-to-face learning with online learning in ensuring that scholarship continued. This conceptual paper looks at the implementation of online teacher education in the Global North and Global South context. The aim of this paper is to assess the extent to which online learning could be considered a reality or a utopian ideal in delivering education in the Global North and Global South context. The conceptual paper uses Sen's capabilities approach to assess whether education as both a capability and a functionality achieved its ideal of enabling individuals to 'be and do' in their quest to achieve their aspirations. It draws from existing literature on Global North-South divide and teacher education. The findings reveal the asymmetries that exist between the two global divides that render online education more of a reality for the former while for the latter it remains utopian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]