Youth’s digital readiness in rural India

As India undergoes rapid technological transformation, digital literacy has become a key driver of youth’s preparedness for future educational, economic, and social opportunities. In this note, Kumar and Bhutada examine digital readiness among rural youth, based on insights offered by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2023 and 2024. While there is widespread smartphone access, significant gaps remain in digital skills and readiness to adapt to an increasingly technology-driven world.

With mobile devices becoming affordable and internet connectivity expanding swiftly (Mishra et al. 2023), youth in India’s villages are increasingly engaging with the digital world. Digital literacy¹plays a critical role in aiding youth to access services and opportunities in the 21^st century. This is reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.4, which aims to enhance youth and adult skills for employment and entrepreneurship by 2030, with specific indicators measuring information and communication technology (ICT) (4.4.1) and digital literacy proficiency (4.4.2). Digital investments play a vital role in unlocking the potential of a "digital dividend", as the benefits will translate into economic growth, job creation, and improved services for all (World Bank, 2016). In India, the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 provides a crucial framework for integrating digital literacy in India’s educational landscape through different pathways such as investing in digital infrastructure, leveraging existing platforms like DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing), and promoting blended modes of learning. Acquisition of universal digital literacy became a national priority as early as 2015 with the Digital India Mission. The Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan (PMGDISHA) is a flagship initiative under this mission, which is aimed at ensuring digital literacy for at least one member aged 14-60 of every rural household. As technology continues to reshape industries and daily life, assessing youth's digital readiness and their ability to harness emerging opportunities is essential in policy planning and implementation.

Picture credit: ASER Centre

The recently released Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 presents a comprehensive view of India’s digital transformation, reflecting both significant progress and persistent challenges faced by rural adolescents and youth. The digital framework of the ASER survey was first developed in 2023 as part of the ‘Beyond Basics’ study, which examined internet access and usage, and assessed digital literacy among 14-18-year-olds across rural India. The ASER 2023 survey covered 34,745 participants in 28 districts across 26 states, using self-reported questions along with rapid and easy-to-administer digital tasks designed to engage youth. Given the widespread use of smartphones in rural communities, the assessment prioritised smartphones over computers for testing digital skills.

Building on these insights, ASER 2024 incorporated a digital component focusing on 14-16-year-olds, significantly increasing its scope to 605 districts in 26 states and 2 union territories. The digital component of ASER 2024 was administered to 114,553 youth in the age group of 14-16 years. This survey also included both self-reported questions on smartphone access, ownership and usage, as well as some basic digital tasks that participants were required to complete using a smartphone available to them. This broader coverage provides a more detailed understanding of access to smartphones and digital proficiency among the youth, offering estimates of digital literacy that are representative at the state and national level.

Digital access, usage, and awareness of safety features

ASER 2024 reveals that digital devices have made significant inroads into the lives of rural Indian youth aged 14-16 years. The report highlights widespread smartphone access with internet connectivity and emerging digital skills among this age group: a majority of rural youth (90%) have a smartphone at home, and around two-thirds could bring a smartphone with good connectivity at the time of the survey, demonstrating immediate access (Table 1). A striking 82% of youth reported knowing how to use smartphones, and among these, 31% own a personal device. Notably, youth smartphone ownership, among those who know how to use it, has increased significantly between 2023 (20%) and 2024 (31%)². As expected, older youth report higher smartphone availability and ownership than their younger counterparts. While a significant gender gap exists, with male youth reporting higher smartphone ownership and usage than their female counterparts, there is a significant decrease in this gap from 2023 to 2024.

Table 1. Smartphone availability and use among youth in rural India, by gender

Survey year	Gender	% of youth who:			Of those who can use a smartphone, % who have their own smartphone
Survey year	Gender	Have a smartphone at home	Could bring a smartphone to do digital tasks	Can use a smartphone
ASER 2024	Male	90.2	70.2	85.5	36.2
	Female	88.1	62.2	79.4	26.9
	All	89.1	65.9	82.2	31.4
ASER 2023	Male	88.7	68.2	93.4	28.4
	Female	85.9	59.4	88.3	11.5
	All	87.2	63.5	90.7	19.6

Among smartphone users, ASER 2024 explored digital engagement with educational activities as well as social media usage during the week prior to the survey (henceforth ‘reference week’). Among those 14-16-year-olds who reported that they can use a smartphone, more than half reported utilising digital platforms for educational purposes, and around 75% reported engaging with social media in the reference week (Table 2). The report also sheds light on youth awareness of safety and privacy settings of social media platforms – although a significant proportion of youth reported using social media, their understanding of online safety is not as high. For instance, out of those who used social media in the reference week, 62% can block or report a profile, 55% can change the visibility of their account to private, and 58% know how to change a password. In addition, the report shows that social media usage and safety awareness among females is significantly lower as compared to males. However, there is no gender gap in education-related digital activities.

Table 2. Educational and social media activity, and awareness of safety features among youth, by gender (2024)³

Gender	% of youth who undertook any education-related activity in reference week	% of youth who used any social media in reference week	Of those who used social media, % of youth who can:
Gender		% of youth who used any social media in reference week	Block/report a profile	Make a profile private	Change password
Male	57.2	78.8	65.2	60.3	65.4
Female	56.8	73.4	58.7	50.2	50.1
All	57.0	76.0	62.0	55.2	57.7

Note: This is only for those youth who know how to use a smartphone.

Demonstrated ability to do basic digital tasks

In addition to the self-reported questionnaire, the ASER 2024 survey administered four digital tasks orally with text prompts shown to youth who were able to bring a smartphone. These simple digital tasks tried to capture youths’ digital readiness – their ability to navigate the internet to find relevant information, to share information online, and to use device functionalities like setting an alarm. Around 70% of males and 62% of females aged 14-16 were able to bring smartphones to do digital tasks at the time of the survey, highlighting a barrier among females in immediately availing and using a smartphone. There is not much change in this figure from 2023 to 2024 (Table 3). Among the youth who could bring a smartphone, 87% could find a YouTube video, followed by information browsing (79%), and then alarm setting (77%). Among those who could find a video on YouTube, around 92% could share it with someone. Across all tasks, youth performance improved in 2024 as compared to 2023.

Broadly, the ASER 2023 report had found large gender gaps in youth ability to do digital tasks. However, an article in the ASER 2023 report shows that after controlling for smartphone ownership, these gender gaps close to a large extent, even reversing for one of the digital tasks (Chavan 2024). In 2024 as well, the performance on digital tasks varies slightly by gender, with males outperforming females. However, this gender gap has narrowed substantially relative to 2023.

Table 3. Percentage of youth aged 14-16 years who could do digital tasks, by gender

Survey year	Gender	% of youth who could bring a smartphone to do digital tasks	Of those who could bring a smartphone, % of youth who can:
Survey year	Gender	% of youth who could bring a smartphone to do digital tasks	Set an alarm	Browse for information	Find a YouTube video	Of those who found video, % able to share it
ASER 2024	Male	70.2	81.5	80.1	88.4	93.6
	Female	62.2	72.4	78.6	85.7	90.5
	All	65.9	76.9	79.3	87.0	92.1
ASER 2023	Male	68.2	71.9	70.7	84.0	90.7
	Female	59.4	56.2	68.3	76.8	84.7
	All	63.5	64.0	69.5	80.4	87.8

Regional disparities in digital access and ability in rural India

ASER 2024 also highlights state-wise disparities in smartphone access and digital abilities. The availability of smartphones at home is highest and almost universal (about 99%) in Kerala, Mizoram, and Sikkim, while it is lower in states like Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, and Jharkhand. There is also variation across states for 14-16-year-olds who could bring a smartphone with good connectivity to do the digital tasks, which is a better reflection of immediate smartphone access (Table 4). This proportion is highest for Sikkim, followed by Mizoram and Kerala, but much lower in states like Rajasthan and Meghalaya, where only half of the youth could bring the smartphone to do digital tasks. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Bihar also fared relatively badly on this measure. The survey highlights regional disparity in digital literacy where southern and northeastern states have more access and perform better on digital tasks than central and eastern states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha. Northern states like Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Jammu & Kashmir are also high performers on this front. The data underscore both the existing and potential digital inequities, suggesting the need for targeted digital literacy interventions that address gender-based and regional disparities.

Table 4. Digital access and use among youth aged 14-16, by states in 2024

State	% of youth who have a smartphone at home	% of youth who could bring a smartphone to do digital tasks	Digital tasks
			Of those who could bring a smartphone, % of youth who can:
			Set an alarm	Browse for information	Find a YouTube video	Of those who found video, % able share it
			Set an alarm	Browse for information	Find a YouTube video	Of those who found video, % able share it
Andhra Pradesh	93.8	71.6	86.0	80.6	86.2	98.4
Arunachal Pradesh	97.4	82.0	85.1	84.3	91.2	94.4
Assam	91.4	73.0	73.7	69.1	87.2	90.0
Bihar	82.5	63.5	75.0	80.9	87.1	93.0
Chhattisgarh	93.8	67.6	71.1	87.7	89.2	89.8
Gujarat	96.0	69.1	79.2	76.3	86.3	92.8
Haryana	92.4	73.2	89.0	90.6	94.1	96.4
Himachal Pradesh	96.7	83.4	89.4	92.2	96.2	96.9
Jammu and Kashmir	93.7	72.4	87.6	83.5	88.3	96.0
Jharkhand	85.1	62.0	74.3	82.4	89.8	93.0
Karnataka	94.5	68.4	83.0	75.9	81.9	93.2
Kerala	99.1	89.1	94.8	87.2	98.3	99.5
Madhya Pradesh	87.0	58.4	71.5	80.8	84.0	90.5
Maharashtra	94.2	70.0	83.4	86.7	89.3	92.3
Meghalaya	94.5	49.8	70.8	71.3	80.5	91.3
Mizoram	99.4	92.4	84.8	80.0	96.0	93.6
Nagaland	95.0	82.7	81.5	84.3	90.8	86.9
Odisha	83.2	69.1	75.0	71.4	85.9	93.1
Punjab	96.2	79.4	87.8	85.4	92.5	96.8
Rajasthan	91.7	50.5	72.4	81.1	82.5	89.4
Sikkim	98.6	95.9	92.3	89.3	94.7	94.9
Tamil Nadu	92.2	77.2	87.2	81.0	89.6	96.6
Telangana	96.0	75.7	89.0	84.4	88.6	98.1
Tripura	90.0	76.6	82.9	76.6	87.2	95.4
Uttar Pradesh	86.8	60.8	72.5	79.7	86.1	89.4
Uttarakhand	93.0	66.9	84.0	86.4	86.0	92.4
West Bengal	84.4	66.6	60.3	60.9	83.8	84.3
All India	89.1	65.9	76.9	79.3	87.0	92.1

Picture credit: ASER Centre

Conclusion

The ASER 2024 findings highlight both progress and challenges in rural India's digital landscape. While smartphone access and usage for social media are high, substantial gaps remain in leveraging this access for education. This increasing access presents a timely opportunity to transform education, empowering rural youth and addressing longstanding learning challenges. However, it will be crucial to bridge the gender and regional divide in digital readiness so that existing inequities are not exacerbated, and everyone is able to reap the benefits of the country’s movement towards a digital economy.

Additionally, in light of increasing vulnerability to digital scams and frauds, focused effort will have to be made to increase awareness regarding online safety, especially among younger age groups and females. Regular large-scale data collection will now be essential in shaping effective policies and designing impactful interventions. With sustained interventions and inclusive policies to strengthen digital infrastructure and foster responsible digital literacy, India can empower its next generation with the digital skills needed to navigate an increasingly interconnected world.

Notes:

Literature suggests that there is no standard definition of digital literacy. Different frameworks and studies have varying objectives and contexts. The widely cited UN Digital Literacy Global Framework defines digital literacy as the “ability to access, manage, understand, integrate, communicate, evaluate and create information safely and appropriately through digital technologies for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship, encompassing competencies that are variously referred to as computer literacy, ICT literacy, information literacy and media literacy”.
The estimates of ASER 2023 and ASER 2024 are not strictly comparable. While ASER 2023 was conducted in 28 districts across 26 states and is not nationally representative, ASER 2024 was conducted in almost all rural districts (605) of the country, and is representative at the state and national level. So, ASER 2024 also includes all backward districts of the country – while availability of smartphones in rural households has improved universally across the country, it may not necessarily translate into usage by youth. This could be one of the reasons that the proportion of those who can use a smartphone is lesser in 2024 than 2023. However, given the large sample size and geographical spread of the ASER 2023 survey, the estimates are indicative of national trends, allowing for rough comparisons.
The data from ASER 2023 have not been presented here as the questions on usage of smartphone for educational and social media activity were asked in a different format as compared to ASER 2024.