Satya Nadella may be sitting pretty in the most envious position of the world heading the world’s top IT company, Microsoft, but in Nizamabad district of his home State Telangana 59% of teenagers have never used Internet while nearly 70% have never touched a computer.
Surprising it may sound but the digital use by Telangana youth is quite dismal, particularly in the rural areas. This was revealed in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2017 released in New Delhi. The 12th survey of ASER was confined to just one district in each state this year and Nizamabad was selected from Telangana.
Poor GK
The survey was one among 1,035 youngsters in the age group of 14-18 years in 945 households in 60 villages of the district. The ASER studies the reading and comprehension levels of students in various age groups apart from accessibility. This year it surveyed digital awareness, financial participation, financial calculations and general knowledge as well.
Almost similar to the situation in the country, the study revealed that 27% of the surveyed youngsters could not locate Telangana State on the Indian map while about 45% could not even name Indian capital. Only 7.8% could calculate repayment while about 34% could apply a discount. About 42.4% cannot read and understand even 3 out of 4 instructions, the report revealed.
Vocational skills
An interesting aspect was the declining participation of girls in education as their age grows. About 72% of girls in 14-18 years were enrolled in a class below 12th but it came down to 47.3% in the age group of 17-18 years indicating that they are dropping out from school as their age grows.
Even as there is a huge talk about infusing vocational skills among the youngsters, the survey reveals that 92.7% of youth between 14-18 years were not taking any vocational training.
While the Central and State governments have been stressing on moving to digital transactions in a big way the ground reality showed otherwise.
As per the report, only 20.2% of them have used an ATM while only 6.3% have tried Internet Banking. However, 70% of them have bank accounts, which is mandatory for scholarships.
