Only 57% teens use smartphones for study: ASER

When it comes to ownership, there is a larger gap — 36.2% boys compared to 26.9 % girls reported owning their own smartphone, the report said.
Representational image.
Representational image. (File photo)
Updated on
2 min read

NEW DELHI: More than 82% of children aged 14-16 in India know how to use smartphones, but only 57% of them use them educational purposes whereas for 76% use the device for accessing social media, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 released on Tuesday.

This time, the surveyors reached out to 6,49,491 children in 17,997 villages. The Pratham Education Foundation, which facilitated the survey, said, “This was the first time ASER included a section on digital literacy focusing on children in the 14-16 age group.”

Almost 90% of surveyed girls and boys reported having a smartphone at home, and 82.2% reported knowing how to use a smartphone (85.5% of boys and 79.4% of girls). When it comes to ownership, there is a larger gap — 36.2% boys compared to 26.9 % girls reported owning their own smartphone, the report said.

“Among the surveyed children who used social media, 62% said they knew how to block and report a profile, 55.2% knew how to make a profile private and 57.7% knew how to change a password. Boys were more aware of these safety features than girls,” the report stated.

On the survey day, 70.2% boys and 62.2% girls brought a smartphone for digital tasks. Surveyors asked them to perform three tasks: set an alarm, browse for specific information, and locate a YouTube video. If they could locate the video, they were asked to share it using a messaging platform.

“More than three-quarters of children to whom these tasks were given were able to perform each of these tasks. Among those who could locate the video on YouTube, over 90% were able to share it,” the report said.

Reading level improves

The reading level of Class 5 students in government schools has improved to reach 44.8%, according to the report.

For Class 3 students, the basic reading levels are highest in 2024. The improvement in government schools has outpaced the recovery in private schools.

The proportion of Class 5 children in government schools who can read a Class 2 text went down from 44.2% in 2018 to 38.5% in 2022; it has increased to 44.8% in 2024. For Class 8 students, the reading level rose to 67.5% in the 2024 report. In 2022, only 66.2% were able to read well in government schools.

States that experienced an increase of more than 10 percentage points in reading proficiency between 2022 and 2024 in government schools include Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana Odisha, and Maharashtra.

In the case of basic arithmetic for elementary grades, both government and private schools have shown the highest level in over a decade. Class 3 students who were able to solve a numerical subtraction problem rose to 33.7% in 2024. In the case of government school students, the number increased to 27.6% in 2024.

Related Stories

No stories found.

X
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com