- Of all surveyed youth, in 14 – 18 age group, who used social media, only about half are familiar with the online safety settings.
The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER 2023) findings reflect that while there is a wider access as 95 percent males and 90 percent females reported knowing how to use a smartphone, however, the technical nuance of “know-how to use a smartphone” looks different for men and women. For instance, males between the 14 and 18-year age group were more than twice as likely to own their own smartphone than females and therefore were likely spending far more time using the device for a wider variety of tasks.
This theory is supported by the ASER data, which shows that men were twice as likely as women to have done so in order to utilise it for practical tasks like making a reservation or paying a bill. The report showed that 38 percent males used smartphones for online services while only 19 percent females did so. Even for entertainment, the percentage of males was higher at 69 percent compared to just 46 percent female, indicating girls and young women have far less access to it than their male counterparts. “Owning one’s own smartphone also enables the possibility of its unsupervised use for tasks unrelated to work or education,” the report said.
ASER 2017 found 16 percent of 14-18- year-old females out of school as compared to 11.9 percent males – a gap of 4.1 percentage points. This year, that gap narrowed to just 0.2 percentage points. The data showed that more females in this age group expressed desire to continue to higher levels of education than their male counterparts. Around 7.4 percent females were enrolled in undergraduate and other courses while 6.8 percent males continued higher education. 44.3 percent aspired to study in undergraduate programmes as opposed to 41.2 percent males.
When reading a Class II level text in their native tongue, girls (76 percent) outperform males (70.9 percent) across all enrolment groups. On the other hand, males outperform women in Mathematics and reading comprehension in English. Men fared better than females across all functional tasks like calculating time, adding weights, measuring length and applying unitary method. For instance, only 41.1percent females were able to tell the time compared to 51 percent males. Similarly, 88 percent males were able to measure length compared to 82 percent women.
Half of the surveyed males reported to have an email as compared to 30 percent females. The gender gap is further prominent in activities like online shopping and even more so in using location or maps. Almost half of the males — 49 percent — were able to use maps to figure out how long it would take to get from their current location to the district bus stand on a two- or four-wheeler and only 25 percent of girls and young women could do so. The ASER 2023 ‘Beyond Basics’ survey was conducted in 28 districts across 26 States, reaching a total of 34,745 youth in the age group 14-18 years. One rural district was surveyed in each major State.
