Though only 6.6% of youth in the 14-18 age group in Kerala are not enrolled in schools or colleges according to the Annual Status of Education Report ‘ASER 2023 Beyond Basics,’ their percentage increases from just 0.5% in the 14-16 age group to 18.6% in the 17-18 age group.
The survey by civil society organisation Pratham found significant learning gaps among teenagers in rural India. The survey was conducted among 34,745 rural students aged 14 to 18 years in 28 districts across 26 States. In Kerala, it was conducted among 1,225 students in 55 villages in Ernakulam district. Of them, 814 were in the 14-16 age group and 411 in the 17-18 age group.
Perambalur in neighbouring Tamil Nadu had the lowest percentage of youth in the country in the 17-18 age group who were not enrolled in school or college — 8%. Nanded district in Maharashtra and South Tripura had the next lowest at 10.9%. Kamrup district in Assam, Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, and Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand too had lower percentages of youth not enrolled as compared to that in Kerala (18.6%).
The State though could take heart that from having the least percentage of youth in the 14-16 age group who were not enrolled (0.5%). Tehri Garhwal and Perambalur were close behind with 0.6% and 0.7%.
Vocational training
The survey found that nationally, 13.2% of the youth in the 14-18 age group were not enrolled. Only 3.2% of the youth in the State were enrolled in vocational training or other related courses against the national average of 5.6%. Only 4% of the surveyed teens reported doing part-time or full-time work (other than household chores) for 15 or more days compared to 33.7% nationally.
While 61% of the youth enrolled in Class XI or higher in the State were enrolled in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths), the national average was 31.7%. While 55.7% nationally enrolled in arts/humanities, in the State it was only 8.3%. Commerce had only 9.4% takers nationally, but in the State, 24.2% opted for it
Digital awareness
The survey that also assessed students’ digital awareness and skills found that 99.5% of the surveyed teens in the State had a smartphone at home and knew how to use it. The national average was 89% and 92.1%, respectively. While females were less likely to know how to use a smartphone (89.8%) as compared to males 94.7% nationally, in the State the gap was very little — 99.3% for females as compared to 99.6% for males.
However, only 85% of the surveyed teens in the State did any education-related activity using a smartphone; 96.3% used it for entertainment-related activity. As many as 93.7% reported using it for accessing online services such as paying bills or booking tickets.
Some of the findings were heartening for the State. Nearly 95% of the surveyed teens in the 14-16 age group and 95.3% in the 17-18 age group could read English sentences, the highest in the country. The national average was 57.3%. However, only 84.5% of the youth in the 14-16 segment in the State could read a Class II textbook fluently in the regional language. Mehsana in Gujarat, Sirsa in Haryana, Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, SAS Nagar in Punjab had higher percentages of youth who could read a Class II textbook fluently. Nationally, 25% in the 14-18 age group could not read a Class II textbook fluently.
Maths skills
As many as 54.9% of the teens surveyed in the 14-16 age group and 60.8% in the 17-18 segment in the State could do division. The national average was 43.3%. When it came to everyday calculations, 20.1% in the 14-16 age group and 28.1% in the 17-18 age group could calculate a loan repayment. This was about 10% nationally.
