When Non-cooperation movement was started middle-class participated. Students began to boycott government-controlled schools and colleges, headmasters and teachers resigned. Except for Madras, council elections were boycotted.
Also, economically, Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign cloth burnt in huge bonfires by the people. Merchants and traders also refused to trade foreign goods or finance foreign trade. This resulted in an increase in the manufacturing of the Indian textile mills and handlooms, but in cities and towns, the Non-Cooperation Movement gradually slow down due to the following reasons:
• The poor people could not afford to pay for the khadi cloth which was very expensive as compared to the mass-produced mill cloth which was cheap. So it became difficult for them to boycott the mill cloth.
• One of the tasks under Non-cooperation movement was to boycott all the British institutions but in order to do this one had to establish the alternative institutions which were slow to come up. This became a problem for people.
• As a result, students and teachers joined government schools and college again, and lawyers joined government courts.
