The booming vacation market for schoolwork

As the summer break ends and schools reopen, students across Gurugram are scrambling to complete their holiday homework—many turning to model-making shops for last-minute solutions.

- Ankur Saini

With students under pressure and parents short on time, ready-made models and project files are flying off the shelves—igniting a broader debate about learning, convenience, and commercialisation of school assignments. While parents cite time constraints and technical complexity, educators worry this growing trend is weakening student learning.

HT's visit to one such store in Old Gurugram revealed the pressure firsthand: anxious parents negotiated delivery timelines while children stood silently, clutching their homework instructions. In one corner, a father reassured his worried son, "Don't worry; it will be ready soon." Nearby, two schoolgirls waited as a staffer painted their chart.

From colourful volcanoes and solar systems to working water purifiers, shops in areas like Old Gurugram, Sector 50 and Shivpuri are packed with anxious parents and students clutching assignment instructions. For children, it's often a blur of paint, glue, and charts; for shopkeepers, it's peak season. "This is our busiest and most profitable time," said Kusum Pahuja, an IIT Delhi alumna and former teacher who now runs a model shop in Sector 50. “We get orders throughout the year, but during the summer holidays, the demand multiplies.”