In rural India, 82.2% teens aged 14-16 know how to use smartphone but only 57% use it for studies

New Delhi: The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 released Tuesday shows that while 82 percent of children in rural India aged 14-16 know how to use a smartphone, only 57 percent used it for educational purposes in the past week. In contrast, 76 percent of these children reported using their smartphones for social media during the same period.

The annual report, based on a rural household survey that reached 6,49,491 children in 17,997 villages across 605 rural districts in India, for the first time has a section on digital literacy, targeting children in the 14-16 age group. This section covers self-reported data on smartphone access, ownership, and usage, along with a one-on-one assessment of basic digital skills.

The ASER report notes that nearly 90 percent of boys and girls reported having access to a smartphone at home. But the ownership of smartphones among 14-16-year-olds remains relatively low, though it increases as they grow older.

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The report highlights a significant “gender gap” in smartphone ownership: “Of the children who could use a smartphone, 27 percent of 14-year-olds and 37.8 percent of 16-year-olds reported having their own phone.” 

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Additionally, the gender disparity is evident, with 36.2 percent of boys owning a smartphone compared to just 26.9 percent of girls—a gap that is consistent across states.

Emphasising that the use of a smartphone for educational activities was similar among girls and boys, the report states that girls were less likely than boys to report using social media (78.8 percent of boys as compared to 73.4 percent of girls). “Kerala stands out in this respect, with over 80 percent of children who reported that they used the smartphone for educational activity and over 90 percent using it for social media,” it says.

Also Read: Govt schools in rural India outperform private in bouncing back from COVID-19 learning loss

Gender gap in digital literacy & skills

The ASER 2024 report reveals that boys in the targeted age group demonstrate a higher level of awareness about cybersecurity and digital skills than girls. “Among children who used social media, knowledge of basic online safety measures was notably high—62 percent knew how to block or report a profile, 55.2 percent knew how to make a profile private, and 57.7 percent knew how to change a password.”

Boys showed significantly higher awareness of these safety features than girls, with the gap being particularly evident across most states, the report adds.

The ASER report states that on the day of the survey, 70.2 percent of boys and 62.2 percent of girls were able to access a smartphone to complete digital tasks, including setting an alarm, searching for information, and locating a YouTube video. 

Over three-quarters of children successfully completed these tasks, and more than 90 percent of those who found the video were able to share it. 

“However, gender gaps were evident, with the largest difference in setting an alarm—81.5 percent of boys vs. 72.4 percent of girls,” it says.

In states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala, however, girls performed equally or better than boys. 

The report also notes that only 18 percent of households surveyed had at least one member who knew how to operate a computer.

Proportion of schooled mother on rise

The ASER 2024 report highlights a notable increase in the percentage of schooled mothers. Ten years ago, in 2014, 43 percent of mothers and 25 percent of fathers of children aged 3-8 had no formal schooling.

By 2024, this number dropped to 24 percent for mothers and 16 percent for fathers. Over the same period, the proportion of mothers who completed at least primary school surged from 43 percent to over 64 percent, while for fathers, the increase was from 61 percent to 72 percent. 

The report emphasises that effectively harnessing this rise in human capital within families is crucial.

“It is also important to note that the proportion of schooled mothers has been growing significantly. These mothers are an important demand driver for education. Improvement in local Anganwadi centres is not just supply-based, but there is a strong demand side to it. The national policy and the mass-scale push from civil society for stronger early years education have led to meeting the demands of the people, especially the increasingly schooled mothers,” Madhav Chavan, co-founder and CEO of the educational non-profit Pratham, is quoted as saying in the report.

Attendance still a concern

According to the report, both student and teacher attendance in government primary schools have shown small but consistent improvements since 2018. Average student attendance rose from 72.4 percent in 2018 to 73 percent in 2022, reaching 75.9 percent in 2024. 

Similarly, average teacher attendance increased from 85.1 percent in 2018 to 86.8 percent in 2022, and further to 87.5 percent in 2024. This positive trend is primarily driven by improvements in attendance in Uttar Pradesh.

“In a village or a community, some children go to private school, some to government school, others to private classes and some do not go to school at all. This is somewhat of a chaotic situation at the level of the village and also at the larger community level, which reflects in the quality of learning in schools,” said Chavan. 

Rise in small govt schools; multigrade classrooms

The ASER 2024 report highlights a sharp rise in the proportion of government primary schools with fewer than 60 students, increasing from 44 percent in 2022 to 52.1 percent in 2024.

More than 80 percent of primary schools in J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Nagaland, and Karnataka, among other states, are considered small schools. Notably, Himachal Pradesh has the highest proportion of small upper primary schools (75 percent).

Additionally, the report states that two-thirds of classrooms for Class 1 and Class 2 in primary schools were identified as multigrade, meaning students from different grades were taught together in the same classroom. This trend reflects the challenges faced by small schools in managing diverse age groups and learning levels within a single space.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)

Also Read: Govt school enrolments dipped by 87 lakh in 2023-24. Bihar saw sharpest decline, followed by UP

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