Are Secondary Schools Imparting Digital Skills? An Empirical Assessment

Abstract

The aim of this article was to analyse the employability of currently enrolled secondary education (classes 9–12) students aged 14–21, specifically their functional digital skills. Digital skills are increasingly being recognised as a key foundational skill that also enhances employability. Gaining digital skills at the secondary education is important because it is one of the foundational skills that help prepare students transition to work and prepares them for life. There were three major objectives in this article: (a) to examine the trends and transitions in the acquisition of functional digital skills of currently enrolled secondary school Indian students according to their socio-economic and demographic profiles; (b) empirically investigate the factors influencing the acquisition of functional digital skills in urban areas and (c) examine whether the policy of providing schools with computers has had any discernible impact on the acquisition of functional digital skills of these students. Using the National Statistical Office 2017–2018 data on expenditure on education, we found that at the national level only 42% of the enrolled secondary school students had the ability to operate a computer and 46% had the ability to browse Internet in 2017–2018. The attainment of functional digital skills differed across rural and urban regions. The individual characteristics, socio-economic profile of households and school-related indicators were factors that explained the likelihood of students’ being equipped with functional digital skills. A key result was that students who had digital devices at home were more likely to have functional digital skills. The government had introduced computers in secondary schools in 2004 in India. We found evidence of a positive association between the provision of functional computers at secondary schools and attainment of digital skills, even for students from households with no computers at home. A key policy recommendation is that providing computers at schools can help overcome barriers to access to digital devices at home and improve the attainment of digital skills. JEL Codes: I2, O15, O3