Among Indian teenagers in rural areas who can’t even read a paragraph of text, over 30% can still browse the Internet and close to 50% can find a video on YouTube, says the latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Rural. The report provides several such insights into the digital prowess of high school and college students in India.
In the ASER survey, students in the 14-18 age group were asked to read a paragraph. Those who could read the words but not the sentences were said to belong to the ‘word level’. Those who could read the paragraph but not a bunch of paragraphs were categorised as belonging to ‘Grade 1 level’. Those who could read many paragraphs were said to belong to ‘Grade 2 level’. The survey was conducted in 28 districts from September to November, 2023.
Chart 1 | The chart shows the share of students aged 14-18 with different leading levels who could do digital tasks on a smartphone.
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Among those at the ‘word level’, more than 30% managed to find a YouTube video, browse information on the web, and set an alarm on their smartphone. Among those belonging to ‘Grade 1 level’, more than 55% could do all these tasks. Interestingly, most students, across reading levels, found it challenging to find travel time on Google Maps.
These conclusions were made for all the 28 districts put together. If the data are analysed at the district level, there are wide variations. For instance, more than 95% of teenagers in the rural parts of Ernakulam in Kerala were able to set an alarm on their smartphone, while less than 50% in Cooch Behar in West Bengal and Gariaband in Chhattisgarh knew how to do this. The India average was 66.4% (Chart 2A).
Chart 2A | The chart shows the share of teenagers who could set an alarm on a smartphone.
There were wide variations among those who could browse information too: while 93% in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag could do this, less than 50% could do so in Odisha’s Sambalpur and Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills (Chart 2B).
Chart 2B | The chart shows the share of teenagers who could browse the internet for information.
In Nagaland’s Kohima district, only 12.5% teenagers knew how to use Google Maps while more than 55% in Punjab’s S.A.S. Nagar could do this (Chart 2C).
Chart 2C | The chart shows the share of teenagers who could use Google Maps.
Notably, variations among districts were the narrowest when it came to accessing YouTube: with close to 70% or more teenagers in every district managing to do this (Chart 2D).
Chart 2D | The chart shows the share of teenagers who could find a video on YouTube.
The data show that digital literacy has penetrated deep into many rural areas but a few areas are still catching up. However, worryingly, many teenagers have still not learned to protect themselves from the dangers of the online world. While more than 90% of them from across districts used social media during the survey week, only 52.3% knew how to block a profile and only 47.8% knew how to make their account private.
Chart 2E | The chart shows the share of teenagers who could block/ report a social media profile.
There were wide variations in these skills too. Just 33% in Tripura knew how to block a profile (Chart 2E) and less than 30% in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum knew how to make their profile private (Chart 2F). A bigger concern is that the share of girls who knew these skills was much lower compared to the share of boys in many districts despite the fact that girls form a majority of the victims of online abuse.
Chart 2F | The chart shows the share of teenagers who could make a social media profile private.
Also read: Rural girls want to be engineers, docs but end up in arts courses | Data
Table 3 | The table shows the share of teenagers who could block/report a profile and make their profile private, across genders, in select districts where the variation was noticeable.
Only 46% girls in the 17-18 age group in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur knew how to block a profile, whereas over 73% boys knew how to do this. Only 57% girls in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara knew how to make their profile private compared to 80% of the boys.
Source: Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2023 ‘Beyond Basics’
vignesh.r@thehindu.co.in, rebecca.varghese@thehindu.co.in
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