Sunday, 23 Mar, 2025
Photo courtesy: Pixabay
Rural learners’ study 90 minutes daily, while urban counterparts drop to 87 minutes. The gender gap narrows as men cut study time to 94 minutes from 102, while women remain steady at 84 minutes, reflecting a shift toward work-related activities.
Rural Indians outpaced their urban counterparts in learning time in 2024, marking a shift in educational engagement patterns, according to the latest Time Use Survey (TUS) by MoSPI. However, the broader trend is concerning—total learning hours have declined over the past five years.
Urban learners saw their daily study time shrink to 87 minutes from 95 minutes in 2019, reflecting shifting priorities or systemic gaps. Meanwhile, the narrowing gender gap signals progress, with girls catching up as boys spend less time on education. While rural resilience is notable, the overall downturn raises questions about long-term human capital development.
Rural India’s learning advantage over urban areas remains marginal, with daily study time falling to 90 minutes in 2024 from 92 minutes in 2019, according to the latest MoSPI survey. The broader decline in learning time persists across demographics.
Men registered the sharpest drop, cutting daily study hours to 94 minutes from 102 minutes in five years. In contrast, women’s learning time held steady at 84 minutes, further closing the gender gap.
The survey, covering individuals aged six and above, recorded activities in 30-minute slots over a 24-hour period, offering insights into shifting educational engagement. The data underscores concern about declining study hours despite rural resilience and improved gender parity.
The learning time continues its downward trend, while work-related activities gain traction. Rural learning time slipped to 90 minutes daily in 2024, while urban learners saw an eight-minute drop to 87 minutes. The gender gap narrowed, driven by men cutting study time to 94 minutes from 102 minutes, while women remained steady at 84 minutes.
Meanwhile, employment-related activities surged. Urban dwellers spent 199 minutes daily on work in 2024, up from 188 minutes in 2019. Rural workers saw an even sharper rise, from 153 minutes to 171 minutes over the same period.
The survey, conducted after a four-year gap, highlights a shift in priorities—less time on education, more on employment—raising concerns about long-term skill development amid India’s evolving labour dynamics.
Worth mentioning here is that Indians devoted more hours to work, entertainment, and unpaid caregiving in 2024 than in 2019, largely at the expense of self-care and maintenance activities. The data suggests a broader shift in daily routines, with time spent on most other activities declining.
The findings align with Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS), which indicate a post-pandemic rise in labour force participation. Also, the shift highlights a key trade-off—higher economic engagement but growing well-being concerns as Indians cut back on essential self-care, a category that includes sleep and medical care.
Employment participation and work hours have risen across India, with both men and women spending more time on jobs, training, or job-seeking. Women’s employment participation climbed 2.3 percentage points to 20.7 per cent in 2024, while men saw a larger 3.5 percentage-point jump to 60.8 per cent. Rural India's labour force participation climbed from 37.9 per cent in 2019 to 41.1 per cent in 2024, now standing 60 basis points (a basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point) ahead of urban areas. This marks a reversal from 2019, when rural participation trailed urban levels by one percentage point.
