As nerves tell the health status of a body, so does the State headquarters or nerve centre Khordha district reflect the State’s dismal education scenario in rural areas, where the Annual Status of Education Report (Rural)-2017, released on Tuesday, shows a whopping 15.4 per cent of youths aged 14-18 years are out of any formal education.
And in the 17-18 years age group, a high of 30 per cent youths were out of formal education system in this district and it recorded itself in the top-10 districts in the country where such a high proportion of youths have no access to education.
A more interesting revelation is when a high of around 87 per cent of youths could name New Delhi as capital of India, around 82 per cent could name their State as ‘Odisha’ and a mere around 46 per cent could identify their State on the map of India, this is so when a high of over 85 per cent youths in the district have enrolled themselves in school or colleges.
Though over 88 per cent youths in 14-18 years age-groups have bank accounts and around 26 per cent have taken up some jobs to earn, the ASER-2017 revelation is only around 19.7 per cent in 14-18 age-group have utilised ATMs in the district when a whopping 61 per cent have withdrawn money.
In digital use among youths, when mobile density among youths in the district was estimated at around 65 per cent, access to internet and computers stood at mere around 29 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively, but the solace is they are well above the national averages.
In the barometer of reading and computing ability, the ASER-2017 reveals that though a high of 62 per cent youths could make purchasing decisions, only 37 per cent could apply discounts that were on offer on most products nowadays.
Another interesting revelation by the ASER: in English reading, girls pip the boys in reading any text in small letters. When around 19 per cent girls could read small letters, only around 16 per cent boys could do so. Moreover, around 88 per cent girls in 14-18 years age could read the Standard-II-level text vis-a-vis 83 per cent boys. Also, when 33 per cent girls could recognise the numerical values ranging from 10 to 99, only 32 per cent boys could do so. And girls are proportionately better in doing subtraction arithmetic while boys are better in arithmetic additions.
But boys pip the girls in counting money, adding weights and reading the time by minutes and hour. Moreover, only around 53 per cent youths in the district could understand written instructions.