Story in numbers: No child's play

In Gujarat, every second child who studies in private schools takes tuitions: ASER

Nominated Member of Parliament (MP), R K Narayan, author of Malgudi Days, delivered  only one speech as MP in the 1990s. He spoke about the weight of school bags that children had to carry every day.  It was so powerful that the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan was moved to lay down stringent norms: "A child should not carry more than one-fifth of his body weight on his back, to keep the spine and skeletal structure strong and upright,” the directive issued by KVS stated. But, the burden of the school bag has been replaced by another one: The need to take lessons outside of the school or the ubiquitous practice of tuition to supplement school work. In Gujarat, a state that is going to polls later this year, every second child who studies in private schools takes tuitions, according to data from ASER. Children who study in government schools rely less on these. But, the tuition industry in the state is lucrative: Even small children who study from classes I to V resort to tuition, with at least five per cent of the families of students in government schools spending upwards of Rs 300 per month to ensure supplemental coaching. How much time would that leave the children of Gujarat to play cricket, read books, chase butterflies or simply dream?

Data: ASER; Analysis: Aditi Phadnis