Over 19% youth between 17-18 yrs not enroled in any educational institute in Sirsa district: Study
The statistics revealed that 90.9% of 14-18 year olds are enrolled in educational institutions in the district, while 9.1% were not enrolled anywhere
: Over 19% youth in the age group of 17-18 years in Sirsa district are not enroled in any formal educational institutions, while 12.1% failed to read Class 2 textbooks, according to the Annual Status of Education report (ASER) released on Wednesday.
ASER is a nationwide household survey that captures the status of children’s enrolment and learning outcomes in rural India every year.
The survey, undertaken by the Pratham Foundation and executed by the volunteers of the Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, is based on the data collected from 1,472 youth from 1,200 households in 60 villages of the district to analyse learning objectives, enrolment trend and current status of digital competence and access for youths aged between 14 and 18 years.
The statistics revealed that 90.9% of 14-18 year olds are enrolled in educational institutions in the district, while 9.1% were not enrolled anywhere.
In the district, 59.4% youth were enrolled in government institutions.
Among those aged 17-18 years, 19.7% males were not enrolled in any formal educational institutions as compared to 19.3% females.
The alarming statistics show that 13.4% children in the age bracket of 14-16 years cannot read a Class-2 textbook and 38.2% in the same age bracket cannot give an arithmetic test and 21.1% of children in the same age group had trouble reading simple English phrases.
However, in the age group of 17-18 years, 12.1% of children failed to read Class-2 textbooks, 41.2% cannot solve arithmetic tests and 17.2% cannot read sentences in English.
Overall, for the everyday calculation tasks, 59.7% were able to calculate the time correctly, 73.1% could do the adding of weights correctly and 59.5% could answer the unitary method question correctly. Of those who could read at least a Standard I level text (ASER reading test), 77.6% could read the text on a medicine packet and answer at least 3 out of 4 questions about it. Of those who could do at least subtraction (ASER arithmetic test), 71.8% could do a task for managing a budget, 54% could apply a discount and 19.4% calculate repayment. Across most of these application-based tasks, males outperformed females, according to the study.
Over 44% males have smartphones against 19% females
The ASER report stated that 94.8% of youths surveyed in Sirsa had a smartphone at home. A total of 96.9% youth were reported being able to use a smartphone. Among males, this proportion was 97.5% and among females it was 96.4%. Of those who could use a smartphone, 44.8% males had their own smartphone as compared to 19% of their female counterparts.
Among all those who could use a smartphone, 76.5% did at least one education-related activity in the week prior to the survey as compared to 94% who used any social media.
While a high proportion of youth used social media in the reference week, a far smaller proportion knew how to access its safety features like blocking a profile, making a profile private, etc.
In Sirsa, 80% could bring a smartphone to do digital tasks and of these, 78% could do the task of setting an alarm, 85.1% could browse the internet to find information, 51.7% could use Google Maps and 90.7% could find a YouTube video. Across all digital tasks, males outperformed females, it said.
However, 75.7% students have opted Arts/Humanities by choice in Class 11 or higher, followed by STEM which includes science, engineering and information technology with 16.6%, 5.6% opted commerce and 2.2% others which includes vocational and professional courses.
The report stated that 29.6% youth in the age bracket 14-16 years are working for 15 or more days in the last month (excluding house work) and the percentage hiked to 41.5% for youths aged between 17-18 years.
