Social and Emotional Skills for Better Lives

Delhi (India)

This site note provides an overview of how social and emotional skills are distributed among different student groups and how they relate to students’ health, well-being, educational outcomes, and future aspirations in Delhi. It draws on data from the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) 2023.

Delhi is the capital of India.

SSES 2023 measured the following skills among 15-year-old students in Delhi:

• Task performance skills (persistence, responsibility, self-control and achievement motivation)

• Emotional regulation skills (stress-resistance, emotional control and optimism)

• Engaging with others skills (assertiveness, sociability and energy)

• Open-mindedness skills (curiosity, creativity and tolerance)

• Collaboration skills (empathy and trust)

Results for Delhi (India) in this note are compared to the average across participating sites. This average includes:

• Sites that participated in SSES 2023 in all analyses: Bulgaria, Bogotá (Colombia), Chile, Delhi (India), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Emilia-Romagna (Italy), Gunma (Japan), Helsinki (Finland), Jinan (China), Kudus (Indonesia), Peru, Sobral (Brazil), Spain, Turin (Italy) and Ukraine

• The following cities that participated in SSES 2019, where possible: Daegu (Korea), Houston (United States), Istanbul (Türkiye), Manizales (Colombia), Ottawa (Canada), and Suzhou (China)

Data for achievement motivation between 2019 and 2023 are not comparable, therefore analyses for this skill only include SSES 2023 sites.

The target population in Delhi includes 15-year-old students in public schools administered and managed by the Directorate of Education in the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. In most sites, the target population includes both public and private schools. Differences by socio-economic background in Delhi should therefore be interpreted with caution, including comparisons to other sites and the average across sites, as the full range of student backgrounds in the site is unlikely to be represented.

The OECD collaborated with Dream a Dream as the national project partner to implement the SSES in Delhi (India).

For further analysis and information, refer to ‘Social and emotional skills for better lives: Findings from the OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills 2023’ and the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills 2023 Technical Report (forthcoming).

Cautionary notes for the interpretation of results for Delhi

Data should be interpreted with some caution as student response rates were lower than expected (72%).

How are students’ social and emotional skills distributed across socio-demographic groups in Delhi?

Differences in skills between boys and girls

• On average, 15-year-old girls in Delhi reported lower levels of stress resistance, emotional control, and energy than 15-year-old boys but higher levels of empathy, curiosity, achievement motivation and tolerance. In Delhi, 15-year-old girls also reported higher levels of creativity and assertiveness, while the opposite was true on average across sites. Girls reported lower levels of trust in almost all sites, however there was no gender difference in this skill in Delhi.

• The skills with the largest differences between boys and girls in Delhi at age 15 were stress resistance, empathy, emotional control, energy, and achievement motivation but gender differences in most skills were smaller than the average across sites.

Figure 1. Largest gender differences in skills in Delhi

Standardised differences between the scores of 15-year-old girls and boys in Delhi compared to the average across sites.

Note: The five skills with the largest gender differences in Delhi are included, ordered from the largest to smallest difference. Standardised differences between boys and girls that are significant at a threshold of p < 0.05 are coloured, non-significant coefficients are outlined. Differences in Delhi that are significantly different to the average across sites are indicated by the asterisk against each skill.

Source: OECD, SSES 2023 Database Table B2.4

Differences in skills by socio-economic background and migration background

• Levels of social and emotional skills among the most advantaged and most disadvantaged students, according to their economic, social and cultural status, are compared. Disadvantaged students are those in the bottom quarter within their site based on this status, while advantaged students are those in the top quarter.

• In Delhi, disadvantaged 15-year-old students reported similar levels of almost all skills to advantaged students. The only exception was emotional control, where advantaged 15-year-old students in Delhi reported lower levels than disadvantaged students. On average across sites, socio-economically disadvantaged students reported lower levels of all skills compared to advantaged students.

• Unlike most sites, the target population in Delhi did not include private schools. Therefore, differences in socio-economic background may be smaller in Delhi compared to the average across sites because the full range of student backgrounds in the geography is not represented.

• Students from a migrant background in Delhi reported lower levels of all social and emotional skills than native students, except for trust, emotional control, and self-control, where there was no significant difference. On average across sites, students from a migrant background reported higher levels of tolerance than native students, whereas the opposite was found in Delhi.

How are students’ social and emotional skills linked to their educational outcomes and career prospects in Delhi?

Levels of absence and tardiness and students’ ambitions for the future

• Some 51% of 15-year-olds had skipped classes and 59% had skipped at least one day of school in Delhi in the two weeks prior to the SSES assessment, which are above the averages of 29% and 31% across sites. In Delhi, 50% of 15-year-olds had arrived late for school at least once in the two weeks prior to the SSES assessment, slightly more than on average across sites (48%).

• In Delhi, fewer 15-year-olds expect to complete tertiary education (73% versus 84%) and to have a managerial or professional job when they are 30 as compared to the average across sites (51% versus 57%).

Relationships between social and emotional skills and academic outcomes

• In Delhi, 15-year-old students with higher levels of social and emotional skills tended to achieve better grades in both maths and reading. Most skills were positively related to both maths and reading grades, while sociability, emotional control, and stress resistance were positively related to grades in reading only. The only skill unrelated to students’ grades in both subjects was trust.

• For maths and reading, the relationship between skills and grades were larger than the average across sites for most skills: curiosity, achievement motivation, empathy, persistence, creativity, assertiveness, self-control, tolerance, optimism, energy.

Figure 2. Relationships between students’ social and emotional skills and grades in Delhi compared to the average across sites

Standardised regression coefficients of individual skills on maths and reading grades among 15-year-olds in Delhi compared to the average across sites

Note: Significant coefficients at a threshold of p < 0.05 are coloured, non-significant coefficients are outlined. Coefficients in Delhi that are significantly different to the average across sites are indicated by the asterisk against each skill.

Source: OECD, SSES 2023 Database Tables B4.1 and B4.4

• In Delhi, 15-year-old students with higher levels of social and emotional skills tended to report being late and skipping school less often, except for stress resistance, where no relationship was observed to absence or tardiness. The relationship between skills and lower tardiness and absence were larger than average for empathy and assertiveness and smaller than the average across sites for achievement motivation, responsibility, persistence, self-control, and emotional control.

Relationships between social and emotional skills and students’ ambitions for the future

• In Delhi, higher levels of open-mindedness skills (curiosity, creativity and tolerance), task performance skills (persistence, self-control, achievement motivation) and empathy are associated with both higher expectations of completing tertiary education and having a managerial or professional job at age 30. There was also a positive relationship between students’ level of optimism, trust, responsibility and stress resistance and their expectation to complete tertiary education, as well as of emotional control to the expectation of having a managerial or professional job in Delhi in the future.

• The relationships between skills and students’ expectation to attend tertiary education were larger than average for curiosity, persistence, optimism, creativity, self-control, trust and stress resistance and to the expectation of having a managerial or professional career for emotional control.

Figure 3. Relationships between students’ social and emotional skills and their future aspirations in Delhi compared to the average across sites

Standardised regression coefficients of individual skills on students’ expectations to complete tertiary education and have a managerial or professional job in the future among 15-year-olds in Delhi compared to the average across sites

Note: Significant coefficients at a threshold of p < 0.05 are coloured, non-significant coefficients are outlined. Coefficients in Delhi that are significantly different to the average across sites are indicated by the asterisk against each skill.

Source: OECD, SSES 2023 Database Tables B4.19 and B4.30

How are students’ social and emotional skills linked to their health and well-being outcomes in Delhi?

Students’ health behaviours

• In Delhi, students reported higher frequencies of skipping breakfast than in most other sites. Over half of students (56%) in Delhi reported skipping breakfast most days, compared to 37% on average across sites.

• Around one-third of students in Delhi (33%) report only exercising once a week or less often, a little higher than the average across sites (31%).

Figure 4. Percentage of 15-year-old students engaging in unhealthy behaviours in Delhi compared to the average across sites

Note: Frequencies of each behaviour that are significantly different to the average across sites are indicated by an asterisk against the behaviour. Source: OECD, SSES 2023 Database Table B3.3

Gender differences in health and well-being outcomes

• On average across sites, girls reported worse levels of all health and well-being outcomes than boys. However, in Delhi, girls only reported worse levels of health behaviours and test and class anxiety than boys. Girls and boys in Delhi reported similar levels of life satisfaction, current psychological well-being and relationship satisfaction in Delhi, while boys reported poorer body image than girls, on average.

Relationships between social and emotional skills and students’ health and well-being outcomes

• In Delhi, 15-year-old students with higher levels of social and emotional skills tended to have healthier behaviours, and a better current psychological well-being and body image. They were also more likely to be more satisfied with their relationships and with their lives overall. Additionally, students in Delhi who reported higher levels of optimism, stress resistance, assertiveness, responsibility and energy tended to have lower test and class anxiety. The relationships between creativity, curiosity and empathy and several health and well-being outcomes tend to be stronger in Delhi than on average across sites.

Key features of SSES 2023

What is the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills?

The Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) is an international survey designed by the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation to improve understanding of social and emotional skills among 10- and 15-year-old students. The Survey aims to understand how levels of these skills differ among students with different characteristics; how these skills matter for important student outcomes; and how students’ school and home environments influence skill development.

Which social and emotional skills are covered in the Survey?

The 15 skills measured in the Survey were selected to provide a comprehensive coverage of those that are relevant for children’s and adolescents’ success and well-being. Further information on why and how these skills were selected can be found in the SSES assessment framework (Kankaraš and Suarez-Alvarez, 2019[1]).

How were these skills measured?

All students complete a questionnaire where they indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with a series of statements. Examples of statements include: ‘I keep working on a task until it is finished’, ‘I stay calm even in tense situations’ and ‘I am able to defend my interests when they are challenged’.

Who participated in the Survey?

All sites in SSES 2023 surveyed 15-year-olds and surveying 10-year-olds was optional. Students in sixteen sites – six countries and ten sub-national entities – participated in SSES 2023. Data from seven sites who participated in the first round of SSES in 2019, but not in 2023, are also included in analyses in this report wherever possible to expand the coverage of the international average.

Some 18,000 10-year-old and 52,000 15-year-old students took the SSES assessment in 2023, representing about 630,000 10-year-olds and 3 million 15-year-olds in the schools of the 16 participating sites. In Delhi 2,700 15-year-old students completed the assessment, representing about 244,900 15-year-old students.

References

[1] Kankaraš, M. and J. Suarez-Alvarez (2019), “Assessment framework of the OECD Study on Social and Emotional Skills”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 207, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5007adef-en.