In recent years, concerns about declining reading habits among Indian students have resurfaced in public discourse. Reports on curriculum restructuring, competitive exam pressure, and screen dependency suggest a shift in how young people engage with texts. While students are reading more than ever in terms of information, fiction appears to be steadily losing space in their lives. This trend raises an important literary concern: what happens to imagination when reading becomes purely functional?
Education Systems and Utility-Driven Reading
India’s education system has long prioritised performance-based learning. With increasing emphasis on entrance examinations, skill development, and employability, reading is often treated as a means to an end. Textbooks, summaries, and guidebooks replace novels and short stories, leaving little room for slow or exploratory reading.
Fiction, which does not promise immediate academic returns, is frequently viewed as expendable rather than essential.
The Rise of Screens and Fragmented Attention
Digital platforms dominate student life today. While access to information has expanded, attention spans have become increasingly fragmented. Reading fiction requires sustained engagement, patience, and immersion—qualities that clash with the rapid consumption patterns encouraged by social media and short-form content.
As a result, literature that demands time and emotional investment struggles to compete.
What Is Lost When Fiction Is Marginalised
Fiction does more than entertain. It develops empathy, critical thinking, and the ability to imagine lives beyond one’s own. When students read stories, they encounter ambiguity, moral complexity, and emotional depth—experiences that cannot be replicated through factual texts alone.
The decline of fiction risks producing readers who are informed but not reflective.
Language, Access, and Cultural Shifts
Another factor is the uneven access to engaging fiction in Indian languages. While English-language publishing thrives in urban spaces, regional literature often remains confined to limited readerships. Without institutional encouragement or visibility, many students never encounter contemporary fiction that reflects their lived realities.
This disconnect further alienates young readers from literature.
Can Reading Culture Be Revived?
Initiatives such as independent reading programmes, literary festivals for youth, and digital libraries offer some hope. Encouraging fiction as a legitimate and necessary form of learning—not a distraction—requires a cultural shift in how reading is valued within education and society.
Literature survives when it is allowed to matter beyond marks.
Conclusion
The decline of fiction reading among Indian students is not merely a habit change but a cultural signal. If literature is reduced to utility, imagination becomes optional. Reclaiming fiction is essential not only for literary culture, but for nurturing thoughtful, empathetic readers in an increasingly results-driven world.
