In India, play is increasingly seen as a waste of time, a treat that children can no longer be indulged in. As competition for seats in “good” schools increases, parents put more pressure on their children – at younger and younger ages – to perform for tests and interviews. Rote learning is the obvious approach and it is not uncommon for a child of four to confidently recite her tables up to ten but be unable to tell how many wheels three bicycles have in all.

School-going children in India now face a grueling routine: in addition to their normal school classes and homework, they must attend hours of private tuitions after school, in which they also receive homework. Summer holidays provide no respite as they are immediately enrolled in “vacation batches” and made to work even harder than during the academic year in an attempt to gain ground before the new term begins. And while average percentages in Class 10 and Class 12 Board exams have, in fact, risen steadily in the last forty years, there is no evidence that children are more intelligent, more creative or more innovative as a result. There is certainly no evidence that they are happier.

Play has become a luxury in India. Children have little time to call their own, and while expensive “activity centres” do exist, with their English language coaching classes and competitive dance and music sessions, complete with command performances at the end of each “term”, they are in fact thinly disguised businesses designed to give ambitious parents yet another way to push their children ahead.

Insecurity about the future leads many parents to believe that without a traditional and rigorous education, their children will stand no chance in the highly competitive job market. Play, while fun, is a distraction for which they have no time.