Context: 

• Since 2005, the NGO Pratham’s Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) has been recording trends in school enrollment, attendance, and reading and arithmetic abilities among children ages 6-14 years in rural areas of the country.
• The 2023 survey focused on an older group of 14-to-18-year-old children, specifically on their ability to apply reading and math skills to everyday situations, and their aspirations. 
• It also sought to capture their access to digital technology, and whether they possess the skills to use it.

Major Aspects and Findings from the 2023 Survey named “Beyond Basics”

• The Survey had four broad buckets to measure — activity, aspiration, awareness in general, and ability. 
• Last survey(2017) of the same age group on the ability front only had reading and arithmetic; this time there is also a mapping of how ready the children are for everyday activities.
• Around 30% are already working, often for their parents. But when asked whether that was what they wanted to do when they grew up, the children say that is not for them.
• About one in four children in the 14-18 age group still cannot read a Std II-level text fluently in their regional language. 
  • Across enrolment categories, girls do better than boys in this respect.
• More than half struggle with division (3-digit by 1-digit) problems, a skill that is usually expected in Std III or IV. About 57% can read sentences in English; more than 73% among them can also tell their meanings. 
  • Boys do better than girls in both arithmetic and English reading.
  • Males outperform females across all financial calculation tasks.
• About 90% of surveyed households had smartphones. Of the surveyed children, almost 95% boys and 90% girls could use a smartphone.
  • But there is a big difference between boys and girls in owning a smartphone. Boys have much greater access.
  • Across all phone-related tasks assigned to respondents, boys outperformed girls. 
  • Performance in digital tasks improved with education level. 
  • Ability to perform digital tasks also increased with basic reading proficiency.
• More children(around 80%) reported using their smartphone for an entertainment-related activity than using it for an education-related(around two-thirds) activity during the reference week.

India can fully realise its anticipated demographic and digital dividends only if it sufficiently prepares its young people with the essential knowledge, skills, and opportunities they need to drive their own progress and contribute to that of their families and communities.