India has set an ambitious target of becoming a trillion-dollar digital economy and creating 60-65 million digitally-enabled jobs by 2025-26.
However, according to the recent Multiple Indicator Survey (MIS) report of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), the situation on the ground level is concerning as Indian youth lack basic information and communication technology (ICT) skills, which could pose a significant challenge to achieving these goals.
According to the NSSO survey conducted in 2020-21 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), with a sample size of over 11 lakh respondents across the country, it was found that only 31.1 percent of Indian men aged between 15-29 years possess the skill to send emails with attachments.
The situation becomes even more concerning when considering the percentage of individuals who possess the basic digital skills of using copy-paste and connecting/installing new devices.
Only 45.7% of respondents were able to use copy-paste, while a mere 15.3% knew how to connect or install new devices.
Women’s proficiency in digital skills is even lower than that of men, with only 22.1% able to send email attachments, 32.7% able to use copy-paste, and a mere 10% able to connect or install new devices.
The survey participants in the age range of 15-29 years were asked to complete nine tasks on a computer to assess their ICT skills.
However, the report did not disclose the number of respondents falling within this age group.
Across the nine parameters, both Indian men and women aged between 15-29 years scored below 48 percent.
Where Does the Buck Stops?
A government school teacher from Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh stated anonymously that “the lack of basic ICT skills among Indian youth can be attributed to the absence of computers in government secondary and higher secondary schools in India.
Moreover, in many cases, the teachers in government schools also lack the computer skills necessary to teach the students.”
According to the Unified District Information System data provided by the Ministry of Education, the total number of students enrolled in primary to higher secondary levels of school education in the year 2020-21 was slightly over 25.38 crore.
In the academic year 2020-21, there were over 15 lakh schools in India, of which only 41.3% had computers, up from 38.5% in the previous year.
As for internet connectivity, only 24.5% of schools had it in 2020-21, compared to 22.3% in 2019-20.
Additionally, a report indicates that 31% of teachers still lack proficiency in digital tools.
Region-wise Disparity Analysis
According to the survey, Kerala ranks the highest among Indian states in the nine ICT metrics test.
Around 73% of men between the ages of 15-29 claimed to be able to send emails with attachments, 90% can perform copy and paste, 52.9% can connect and install devices, and 40% can create digital presentations.
It is worth noting that the percentage of women with these skills in the state is the same as that of men.
When it comes to the breakup of men and women who can send an email with attachments was as follows:
- Tamil Nadu (56.9 percent male and 53.6 percent female)
- Karnataka (49.2 percent male and 40.4 percent female)
- Telangana (51.9 percent male and 38.6 percent female)
- Andhra Pradesh (41.7 percent male and 29.9 percent female).
The same numbers in the Hindi heartland are:
- Uttar Pradesh (9.7 percent female and 18.5 percent male)
- Madhya Pradesh (18.8 percent male and 11.5 percent female)
- Chhattisgarh (21.7 percent male and 14.9 percent female)
The significant difference in the ICT skills between men and women in India can be attributed to the availability of computer and internet facilities in schools.
Kerala, which tops the list of states with higher ICT skills, has 89.1 percent of schools with internet facilities and 96.03 percent of schools with functional computer facilities.
Similarly, other states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana also have a higher percentage of schools with these facilities.
On the other hand, in Uttar Pradesh, only 20.17 percent of schools had operational computer facilities and 14.9 percent had internet facilities.
A comparable pattern is observed in Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh had 80.45 percent functional computer facilities but only 14.02 percent had internet facilities
