IIM Kozhikode students, Nayanika Kulshreshtha and Ayushi Aggarwal, conducted a survey to understand the outlook of online co-curricular and extracurricular education opportunities in India. As per the findings of the survey, the popularity of co-curricular among Indian students is 36 per cent debating, 28 per cent science club, 25 per cent art, and 22 per cent book club.
On the other hand, 80 per cent of parents cited visual arts as their preferred extracurricular or co-curricular activity. Further, 76 per cent of parents said that the performing arts such as dancing and music were preferred activities. Moreover, 30 per cent of parents wanted to opt for more than three extracurricular activities.
Market size
The size of the extracurricular market is projected to reach $5.8 billion in India in 2021, set to rise in the coming years. Of 2,280 households surveyed, 63 per cent of parents have an average income of below 6 lakh and believe ₹850 per/month is the appropriate average amount to spend on online co/extra-curricular education per child. Additionally, they are willing to invest three to four per cent of their disposable income in their child’s extracurricular education.
The survey findings also reveal that parents with lower income bracket will contribute approximately $1.24 billion to the online extracurricular market. While 23 per cent of parents who have an income between ₹6 to ₹10 lakh will contribute approximately $2.27 billion to the market. Additionally, 14 per cent of parents with an income above ₹10 lakh will contribute approximately $2.33 billion to the market.
Key growth drivers
The phenomenal growth of the extracurricular market is led by the increased penetration of smartphones and the internet in tier 1, 2, 3, and other cities.
The survey also revealed that the availability of high-speed 4G internet at extremely low prices in India has improved internet connectivity in urban and rural regions. With this, the internet has reached about 69 per cent across urban and semi-urban India. Furthermore, it also projects that the internet-using population will reach 80 per cent of 1.4 billion by 2025, and estimated to increase to 9.23 per cent growth in the extracurricular market.
As per the survey — parents from tier 2 and tier 3 cities say online education helps them connect to audiences from tier 1 cities. Thus, the affordability of internet and aspirations of young children are projected to drive the market growth.