25% rural kids aged 14-18 can’t read Standard 2 level in own tongue

Humanities is the top choice among rural children in the age group of 14-18 with 55.7% of students in Class XI or higher in this stream, followed by STEM (31.7%) and commerce (9.4%). Gender-wise girls (28.1%) are less likely to be enrolled in the STEM stream than boys (36.3%), says the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2023 report. The 'Beyond Basics' survey was conducted by Pratham in 28 districts across 26 states, reaching a total of 34,745 children in this age group.