More than half of 14- to 18-year-old children in rural India cannot solve a simple three-digit division problem that’s usually taught in Class 3-4 and struggle with everyday skills, including determining time and doing basic calculations, shows the latest edition of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released on Wednesday.

The findings point to a huge skill deficit among adolescents, many of them only a few years away from entering the job market.

The 2023 report reveals that children in India continue to struggle with basic reading and arithmetic skills well into their teenage years, even after reaching Class 10 and higher secondary levels of education (Classes 11 and 12).

Overall, of those aged 14-18, a quarter (26.5%) could not read a Class 2-level textbook in their regional language, and a little less than half (42.7%) could not read sentences in English. Of those who can read these  sentences, over a quarter (26.5%) did not understand the meaning of what they were reading.

Basic mathematics remains the big challenge. More than half of the surveyed students (56.7%) could not solve a simple 3-digit by 1-digit division problem. The ability to do division is seen as a proxy for the ability to do basic arithmetic operations.

Further, ASER 2023 assessed the ability of those surveyed to apply basic arithmetic and reading skills to everyday calculations, reading, understanding written instructions and financial calculations. Worryingly, less than half of them (around 45%) could calculate the number of hours a child had slept based on the time she went to bed at night and woke up in the morning.

In another everyday task, of measuring an object with a ruler, 85% of those surveyed could calculate the length of an object correctly if it was placed at the ‘0’ mark on the ruler. But when the object was moved and placed elsewhere on the ruler, less than 40% could give the right answer. Two-thirds of those surveyed (65.1%) were able to read functional instructions on a packet of ORS solution.

Across most tasks that test the ability to apply basic numeracy and reading skills, boys did better than girls. For instance, 45% boys in the 14-18 age group could do at least division while only 41.8% girls could do so. Also, while 50.5% boys calculated time when presented with a situation, only 41.1% girls could do so.

The poor foundational skills come even though young people are remaining in school longer than ever before. ASER 2023 found that overall, 86.8 per cent of youth between the age of 14 to 18 years are enrolled in an educational institution, belying a major worry during the pandemic – that with livelihoods threatened, older children would drop out of school.

Emphasising the importance of foundational learning and life skills, “not just for academic advancement but also to traverse daily life”, ASER Centre Director Wilima Wadhwa said, “At some level, India is in a unique position right now… For India to become the world’s third largest economy, the quality of our labour force has to keep pace with our developmental needs. We can only reap the demographic dividend associated with a young population if our youth are well supported to achieve their aspirations and participate productively in the growth process of the economy.”

The survey shows that more than half (55.7%) of the young people in this age group were enrolled in the Arts/Humanities stream, followed by STEM (31.7%) and Commerce (9.4%). “More males report enrolling in the STEM stream (36.3%) than females (28.1%),” the report said.

The report also showed that around 89% of those surveyed had a smartphone in the household and 92% said they knew how to use it – signalling a shift that has gathered force in the pandemic years and after.

The ASER survey was conducted in 28 districts across 26 states, involving 34,745 children in the age group of 14-18 years. One rural district was surveyed in each state, with the exception of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, where two rural districts were surveyed.