‘36 per cent kids aged 14-18 don’t know capital city’

New Delhi: One-fourth of India’s youngsters in the 14-18 age group cannot read basic text in their own language fluently, while 57 per cent of them struggle to solve a simple sum of division, the 12th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2017 released here on Tuesday revealed.

Worse, when shown a map of India, 14 per cent couldn’t identify it, 36 per cent couldn’t name the country’s capital and 21 per cent could not answer the state they live in, but more than seven out of 10 can use a cellphone.

The ASER survey was carried out in 28 districts spread across 24 states. It surveyed more than 30,000 persons in 1,641 villages across the country with four domains in focus, namely what are the children of this age group (14 to 18 years) doing, their ability, awareness and aspirations.

“It has also been found that the proportion of youths, who have not acquired basic math skills by 14 years, is the same as that of 18-year-olds,” the report says.