Big jump in number of rural students with a smartphone at home in Karnataka
The Hindu
The smartphone availability in Karnataka is significantly higher than the national average
In rural Karnataka, as online classes became inevitable amidst the pandemic, the percentage of students who have smartphones at home has seen a sharp increase.
In 2018, only 43.1% students had smartphones available in their homes. In 2020, after the pandemic hit, it rose to 68.6%. In 2021, it further rose to 71.6%. This was one of the findings in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021 which was released on Wednesday.
Of the rural students in Karnataka, who reported that they had at least one smartphone available at home, 35.6% said they had access to it at all the time, while 52.7% said they had access to it sometime, and 11.7% said although it was available at home, they had no access.