Indian parents spend maximum time in helping kids with homework: World Economic Forum report

NEW DELHI: Parents in India spend around 12 hours every week, the maximum amount of time among all surveyed countries, helping their kids with homework, a report by the World Economic Forum says.

The recently released report also says that around 62 per cent Indian parents help their kids with their homework, which is significantly higher than many other countries.

Parents in developing countries spend more time assisting their kids as compared to more advanced countries, says the report based on a survey by Varkey Foundation, which interviewed around 27,500 parents in 29 countries.

“One-quarter of parents worldwide spend seven or more hours a week helping their children with their studies, a figure that rises to 39 per cent in Colombia, 50 per cent in Vietnam and 62 per cent  in India.

But in more advanced economies the amount of support falls dramatically. Only 11 per cent of parents in the United Kingdom, 10 per cent in France and Japan, and 5 per cent in Finland help their children after school.

Indian parents spend an average of 12 hours a week helping with homework, the report highlights,  while Vietnamese parents give up 10.2 hours. Turkish mums and dads, who devote 8.7 hours to after-school learning, came third.

In comparison, parents in the US spend just 6.2 hours every week assisting their children in completing their homework while this number, at 3.6, is even lesser for the UK.

The report has once again brought to the forefront the concerns on school children being overburdened with homework.

In a report last year, Save the Children, an international NGO that promotes children’s rights had noted that “Indian children are subjected to educational overkill with an ever-increasing burden of homework.”

“Back in 1977, Education Ministry’s Review Committee had concluded that our children are turned ‘prisoners in the four walls of house’ by ‘unlimited homework’ but their report was sidelined,” it said. “Indian kids are overburdened by a five-hour workday like school schedule followed by homework load of a three-hour workday. In the same time, British kids get no homework and American kids get minimal homework giving them freedom to explore and broaden perspectives.”

Ruby Roy, a teacher with a well-known school in Delhi pointed out that it is mostly “well-educated” parents who spend time with their kids’ homework in order to ensure that “they score well in examinations and are better prepared for competitive examinations.”

Average number of hours spent by parents helping their kids with homework

India  12

Vietnam  10.2

Russia  7.2

China  7.2

US  6.2

UK  3.6

Japan  2.6