Kerala and Mizoram have the highest percentage of children aged 14-16 who have a smartphone at home, according to the latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), a nationwide household survey done by an NGO. The survey generates district, state, and national-level estimates of the enrollment status of 3 to 16-year-old children, as well as basic reading and arithmetic skills. The latest survey covered digital access and usage. Among the states, 99.1% of children have a smartphone in Kerala, whereas it is 99.4% in Mizoram.

Of these children, 91% used social media in the reference week of the survey, and 82.4% of children used phones at least once during the reference week for education-related activity online in Kerala. This was the highest percentage in the country; even with the majority of children having access to smartphones, only 48.5% of children in Mizoram used phones for educational purposes. 97.3% of students in Kerala who were surveyed knew how to use a smartphone

A good percentage of children in this age group in Kerala could easily perform basic tasks like browsing, finding a YouTube video, blocking or reporting a profile and activating a profile. 98% of Kerala children could find a YouTube video, whereas 87% could use a smartphone to browse information. The children were asked to bring a smartphone with good connectivity during the survey to do the digital tasks.

While Kerala ranked high in terms of digital access, the enrollment of children in government schools in the age category (6-14) dropped from 64.5 per cent to 44.5 per cent between 2022 and 2024. The General Education Department recorded a dip of 6,928 students who took class-1 admission in government schools in the 2024-25 academic year when compared to 2023-24, according to the figures presented by Education Minister V Sivankutty in the assembly in 2024. As many as 99,566 students got admission in 2023-24, and in 2024-25, the number was 92,638.