ASER report: About 25% in 14-18 age group can't read class-2 text fluently in regional languages

More than 86.8 per cent of India's population in the 14-18 age group are enrolled in educational institutions and more than half of them opt for the humanities stream, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released on Wednesday.

The report, however, underlines that 25 per cent of those in the age group cannot read a Class-2 level text fluently in their regional languages.

While the report noted small gender gaps in enrolment, it flagged notable differences between age groups. "Older youth are more likely to be not enrolled. The percentage of youth not enrolled is 3.9 per cent for 14-year-old youth and 32.6 per cent for 18-year-olds," it said.

Last year's report showed that the enrolment levels of children in the age bracket of six to 14 years had gone up from 96.6 per cent in 2010 to 96.7 per cent in 2014 and from 97.2 per cent in 2018 to 98.4 per cent in 2022.

The report said more than 55 per cent students of Classes 11-12 opt for humanities, followed by science and commerce. It also pointed out that female students are less likely to be enrolled in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) streams than males.

The report asserted that the fear that several older students had dropped out of school during the Covid-19 pandemic owing to a loss of livelihood was unfounded.

Only 5.6 per cent youngsters in the country are currently undergoing vocational training or have been enrolled in other related courses, the report said.