Digital Literacy of School Students in India: A Study

Today, digital technologies such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, internet, web 2.0, and social media are a common good. These devices cater to fulfill the needs of learners of every age, but still the digital world is one with its own set of rules and risks. Therefore, digital literacy has become the prerequisite skills to survive in this digital world. Digital literacy is the ability to understand, use, and interact with technology, media, and digital resources in real-world situations. The importance of digital literacy motivated the researchers to identify the current status of digital literacy of the secondary school students having varied digital education experiences. To conduct the study the sample of 540 secondary school students were selected through multistage sampling. For data collection researchers developed and standardized 'Digital Literacy Assessment Test' (DLAT). The assessment was conducted in online mode. The results revealed that majority of the students performed at good level of digital literacy while none of them performed exceptionally well. Also, students with average digital education experiences performed moderate in their digital literacy under four different dimensions. Moreover, the study revealed interesting outcome in case of digital literacy of different gender and class. The obtained results are further used to provide some useful suggestions for the school to enhance the digital literacy skills of the students.