Hyderabad: Despite all the smart talk about Digital India, rural districts in Telangana lag behind in computer and internet knowledge.
Nearly 70 per cent of teenagers in the 14-18 age group in Nizamabad district have never accessed a computer in their lives.
Students were also found wanting when it comes to subtraction and division of numbers and 46 per cent were unable to name the national capital.
This information was revealed in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) for 2017, which was released in New Delhi on Tuesday.
According to Nazmal Shaikh, ASER associate for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, this 12th survey of ASER was confined only to Nizamabad, unlike previous surveys that were done in all districts leaving out Hyderabad.
He said that 1035 teenagers in the age group of 14-18 years from 945 households in 60 villages were assessed on activity (enrolment and work), reading (basic), arithmetic and English as well as awareness (mobile, computer, internet, banking, digital transactions), financial calculations, daily tasks, maps and general knowledge.
Nearly 68 per cent of teenagers were unable to do a subtraction of three by one number.
Mr Nazmal said many of them could not give the answer for 347 divided by 9. Sixty per cent failed miserably in subtraction.
Enrolment in studies was found to dip in the 17 to 18 age group; 29 per cent of teenagers, male and female, were found to have not enrolled for any study.
70 per cent teenagers could read an English
And understandably 35 per cent in this age group were working for 15 days or more in a month. When it comes to financial calculations, only 33 per cent were able to calculate discounts and only eight per cent could calculate repayment when tasks were given.
There were some achievements too. Seventy per cent of teenagers could read an English sentence properly, and 96 per cent could recognise the map of India though they failed to name the country's capital.
A good 69 per cent have their own bank accounts.Teenagers were found to lag behind in computer usage, but nearly 80 per cent nodded their assent when asked whether they used or accessed mobile phones.
The ASER survey was carried out in 26 districts spread over 24 states across the country. Information was collected on four domains - activity, ability, awareness and aspirations
