Aspiration to join the Army among Himachal Pradesh’s male teens (14-18 years) is the highest in the country as 42.3 per cent responded that they dream of donning olive green, says Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER) 2023 – ‘Beyond Basics’. They are followed by Uttarakhand male teens where the figure is 37.9 per cent.

Engineering (8.9%) and police (6.1%) are the other preferred options for HP’s male youths. However, among females, the most preferred option is becoming a doctor (18.1%), followed by teaching (17.7%) and police service (12.5%).

In educational capabilities, Himachal teens performed poorly. Close to 50 per cent of youth in the age group of 17-18 years couldn’t carry out division while over 15 per cent couldn’t read English sentences.

The analysis is based on data from 1,360 youth of 1,202 households across 60 villages of Kangra district.

As many as 28.8 per cent of teens in the 14-18 age group reported to have worked for 15 or more days in the month preceding the survey.

Close to 32 per cent of males and 17.8 per cent of females in the 17-18 age group reported not being enrolled in any institution. It includes youth who never enrolled or dropped out.

Himachal youth have performed poorly in everyday and financial calculations too. Just 43.9 per cent of youth in the 14-16 years bracket could calculate time while in the 17-18 years bracket, the figure is equally poor at 47.6 per cent. Similarly, 40 per cent of youth couldn’t add weights in the 14-16 age group, while the figure in the 17-18 age group is over 38 per cent.

Just 58.9 per cent could manage a budget, given a rate list in the 14-16 age bracket while in the 17-18 age group, the figure marginally improves to 63.2 per cent.

Over 60 per cent couldn’t apply a discount on a product in the 14-16 age group while in the 17-18 age bracket, the failure rate is 55 percent. In the calculation of repayment of loans, just 8.7 per cent cleared the test in the 14-16 age bracket and 16.7 per cent in the 17-18 age bracket.

Over 99 per cent youth can use a smartphone in Himachal Pradesh. However, among those who can use it, just 40 per cent of teens own one.

In the 14-16 age group, just 42.8 per cent of males and 30.1 per cent of females have ever accessed any online service respectively while in the 17-18 years bracket, the figure improves to 70.9 per cent for males and 52.7 per cent for females, respectively. However, the difference between males and females is stark. Online services include making payments, filling out a form, paying a bill, and booking a ticket.

When it comes to using Google Maps, male teens are better than females. In the 14-16 age group, against 56.4 per cent of of males, just 32.6 per cent of females could use Google Maps. In the 17-18 years age group, against 69.7 per cent males only 40.6 per cent of females could use Google Maps.