Urban India lags behind rural areas in learning time: Govt survey

The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI) released the findings of the Time Use Survey (TUS) on Feb 25, revealing that in 2024, people in rural India spend more time on "learning activities" compared to their urban counterparts.

The study also indicated that over the past five years, women have narrowed the gap with men, who are now spending less time on "learning activities."

Learning activities include time spent on formal education, which includes, among other things, homework, extracurricular activities, and attendance at school or university. It also covers time spent traveling for educational purposes.

However, compared to 2019, the amount of time spent on "learning activity" decreased in both urban and rural areas in 2024.

Urban residents spend 87 minutes a day on "learning" in 2024, compared to 95 minutes in 2019, according to data. People in rural areas spent 90 minutes, compared to 92 minutes in 2019.

In a separate gender-wise research, the time spent by men on "learning" decreased to 94 minutes from 102 minutes during the previous five years, while the time spent by women was constant at 84 minutes.

Time use data for individuals aged 6 and older was gathered in TUS 2024 using a 24-hour reference period.

The activities completed during the allotted 30-minute time periods were reported by the respondents and compared to the corresponding slot.

A maximum of three activities lasting 10 minutes or longer were recorded when there were several activities taking place during a single time window.

Nine main divisions were then created from the activities that the respondents had reported. Additionally, the statistics indicated that both urban and rural areas saw increases in the amount of time spent on "Employment and related activities."

While students in rural areas spent 171 minutes in 2024 compared to 153 minutes five years previously, students in urban areas spent 199 minutes per day in these activities, compared to 188 minutes in 2019.

In January and December of 2019, MoSPI performed the first Time Use Survey (TUS) nationwide. Four years later, in January and December of 2024, the second TUS was conducted over the entire country.

“India is among the few countries, including Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, USA, and China, that conduct the national TUS to analyze how people allocate their time to various daily activities. The primary objective of the survey is to measure the participation of men and women in paid and unpaid activities,” the ministry said.