First of all, I agree with the concern that mainstream dive education does not focus enough on either gas management or an emergency response to OOA (emergency ascent). To me, these statistics clearly indicate that more instructional time should be spent there. Too many divers run out of air without a buddy nearby. When they do that, they perform a poor ascent that leads to embolism.
Now lets look at OW instruction. I know from a long written exchange that accompanied a Distinctive Specialty I wrote for Dive Planning, a Distinctive Specialty that includes gas management, that PADI believes that for the beginning OW diver, monitoring gauges and beginning an ascent at the appropriate PSI is all that needs to be taught at that level. OK, let's for the moment agree with that and ask the question: when is it taught at that level?
According to standards, it isn't. Look at the RSTC standards and ask yourself if t it is possible for a student to be certified at the OW level without ever being asked to look at a pressure gauge during a dive, without ever being asked to check their buddy's gas level, without ever being shown how to signal remaining gas level, and without ever being asked to make a decision about the appropriate amount of reserve gas for beginning an ascent. Correct! Not one of those skills is mentioned in the standards or the course requirements!
And so, in both the CW and OW work, I require my students to check each other's gas levels at several points while just free swimming. I include information on an appropriate PSI level for beginning an ascent. Finally, although it varies to some degree based on where I am doing the OW dives, I try on at least one dive to have the buddy teams swim independently while I watch and then initiate an ascent independently based on a specific PSI level rather than on my command. (I can't always do that.)
As for emergency ascents, I have said repeatedly in this and other forums that we teach the emergency swimming ascent badly; so badly, in fact, that it is counterproductive. Our instructional methodology is designed to give the student the impression that if there is caca on the fan, they will not be able to get to the surface using it, so they had better hold their breath. (I can explain this in more detail, but it would take something of an essay on its own.)