a billion hopes & desires - educafe.com · nearly quarter of the sample studied are unlikely to...

What is it our youth really want to do?

A BillionHopes &Desires



Understanding aspirationsAspirations of youth are a matter of great interest to

nation builders as they reflect the attitudes,

ambitions and hopes of the next generation.

Aspirations reflect individuals’ ideas of what they

would like to become, what they might become, and

what they do not wish to become. These aspirations

change from generation to generation, and

therefore we need to constantly monitor and

evaluate them.

WHAT ARE THE CURRENT ASPIRATIONS? What does the new generation want to do? To study

this, the career aspirations of India’s youth was

studied. The sample consisted of high school and

higher secondary school children from English

medium and vernacular medium, boys and girls,

across the different boards – State, Central board

(CBSC) and ICSE. In all, a total of 3,334 students

were assessed. During the survey, relevant

demographic information such as personal details

of age, gender, course and class of study; family

details such as educational levels and occupations

of parents, career aspirations, work values and role

models were assessed.

SCHOOL STUDENTS

CAREER CHOICESTotal Sample

• 96% of the sample has chosen a career. Only 4% of the sample did not have any career aspirations.

• Among the top 10 careers chosen, 6 linked to the field of Science and not one of them is from the Humanities [Arts] faculty. The hierarchy that exists in the Indian educational scenario, with Science careers being more highly valued continues to exist, even today.

• Changes have occurred in the career aspirations of the Generation Y. For years, the most highly regarded careers were in the civil services, engineering, and medicine. Now, while engineering and medicine continue to maintain their hold, high-paying jobs like software and commercial pilots, high profile careers as in sports, the financial sector and defence are areas which our youth aspire for.

• Civil services which were previously highly prized gets a rank of 16, coming after the creative careers of journalism / media, designing, music etc

• 5 careers account for nearly 41% of the sample and another 30 occupations account for not

even 5% of the responses. Most students are not even aware of the different career opportunities available to them. Results underlie the dire need for appropriate and timely career counseling, so that our youth actualize their potential.

• The first six career clusters that emerge revolve only around Science viz., engineering, computers and IT, architecture, medicine, physical and life sciences, accounting for 48.9% of the sample.

• Sports, Performing Art (acting, choreography, dance, modeling, music etc), Commerce and Financial operations and transportation (commercial pilots, merchant navy etc) are the next four career clusters which have been ranked high in the career aspirations of our youth.

• Research and Teaching rank low, occupying the 22nd and 27th ranks respectively. Together they account for the career aspirations of just 1% of the respondents.

School Boys

• Engineering still occupied Rank Number 1 as a career choice of school boys. However interestingly, Sports and Physical Sciences were ranked 2nd and 3rd.

• While the whole world is bemoaning the fact that students are going only for engineering and technology, more students of this sample appear to have chosen the pure sciences as their preferred career, even over IT.

• No career belonging to the Humanities [Arts] cluster comes within the first 10 ranks for school boys.

School Girls

• For girls, Engineering occupies the first rank, Medicine comes 2nd.

• The first five ranks go to the Science faculty. However the next five, include the creative arts, commerce and law. The first ten ranked careers, which account for 60% of the choices, therefore span all the three faculties of Science, Commerce and Humanities. Results seem to reinforce the idea that occupations and faculties

are gender stereotyped – while Science is for boys, Arts is for girls.

• Girls have opted for many more careers across the spectrum, compared to boys.

ROLE MODELSTotal Sample

• 16.3% of the school sample did not report any role model. This implies that a large number of our school students have no role model to look up to and aspire to become

• Dr Abdul Kalam, our technocrat ex-President of India emerged as the number one role model for nearly 15% of the population,

• Parents /family, came a close second. Indian youth are still grounded in family and family values.

• Youth of today admire individuals who have come up the hard way, who have met success because of their own effort and hard work rather than because of influence, family and tradition; and who continue to be humble and disciplined. The fact that some of our youth hold such aspirations is indeed a ray of hope for the future.

WORK VALUESTotal Sample

• Money is not the sole motivator for taking up a career….nor is it power and prestige.

• The work value which is ranked as the most important reason for working is interest in that career, followed by the nature of work involved.

COLLEGE (+2) STUDENTS


• Because of the rigidity of the Indian educational system, filtering of career options start immediately after the choice of specialization made at +2 level

• 7% of students at the +2 level have not revealed any career choice…they still remain undecided.

When faculty comparisons are made, 10.4% of the students from the commerce faculty have not yet decided what they would like to do.

• 20.23% across the three faculties have opted for careers which they would not be able to pursue (i.e. a career for which the specialization they have chosen will not permit them to follow) or careers for which the specialization they have taken is not really required (for e.g. a career of journalism after taking Commerce for their +2).

• When faculty comparisons are made, maximum number of students in the Commerce faculty (37%) have made wrong decisions regarding their specialization

• Therefore, on the whole, approximately 27%, i.e. nearly quarter of the sample studied are unlikely to get the career choices they aspire for, have chosen the wrong specialization for the career they desire or have no career choices. These large numbers are frightening, and one cannot over emphasize the need for career counseling at the appropriate time, to ensure our youth do not fritter away their potential.

• Large numbers are going to emerge from their Pre University courses and then realize that they may have wasted two precious years of their lives doing a course which was not required or end up in a career which would not have been their best and preferred choice.

• For students in the Arts / Humanities faculty, communicative art in the creative field is one of the popularly chosen careers choices. Counseling and Psychology come second

• 30% of students in the Faculty of Commerce want to do their Chartered Accountancy

• For the students in the Faculty of Science, interestingly enough, software / IT is not one of the most preferred career choices; though Engineering and Medicine continue to rule the roost. Sports, music and law are also careers of choice.

Gender wise analysis across faculties• For boys in the Faculty of Humanities / Arts, Law

is the preferred career choice; for girls, it is Journalism and Media.

• For girls, among the top 10-11 career choices, 6 are stereotypically “feminine” careers and deal with nurturance and creativity - supposedly in the domain of females.

• For boys in the Faculty of Science, Engineering is the most popular career choice. Interestingly, the second most popular choice (around 7%) is commercial pilot. Defence services comes 4th

• Medicine, which at one time was one of the most sought after careers comes 5th in the list.

• For girls in the Faculty of Science, Medicine is the most popular career choice (38%) followed closely by Engineering (34%). Thus 72% of the girls would opt for the traditional Science careers of Engineering and Medicine

• For boys in the Commerce faculty, Chartered Accountancy is their preferred career.

• The next two career choices are sports and the defence services, both of which are remotely connected to the commerce stream of specialization.

educafé Student Solutions Pvt. Ltd. 1









evaluate them.














SCHOOL STUDENTS











School Boys




School Girls


































School – Career Choice S.No Career Frequency %age

1 Engineering (any field) 401 18.9

2 Medicine 136 6.4

3 Physical sciences 128 6

4 Life Sciences 105 4.9

5 Architecture 102 4.8

6 Sports 96 4.5

7 Chartered Accountancy 87 4.1

8 Software/Computer Engineering/ IT 87 4.1

9 Commercial pilot 82 3.9

10 Defence services 71 3.3

Not answered 84 4

School – Role Model S.No Career Frequency %age

1 Dr.Abdul Kalam 316 14.9

2 My parents . family members 314 14.8

3 Kalpana Chawla 124 5.8

4 Mother Theresa 88 4.1

5 Sachin Tendulkar 86 4.1

6 Mahatma Gandhi 86 4.1

7 Others 85 4

8 A.R.Rahman 76 3.6

9 Vijay Mallya 68 3.2

10 Narayan Murthy 62 2.9

11 Rahul Dravid 61 2.9

No response 351 16.5

School – Role Model S.No Work Value Rank

1 Interest in that career 1

2 Nature of Work involved 2

3 Salary 3

4 It is an upcoming / exciting field 4

5 Power, prestige and Status associated with it 5

6 There are several career opportunities in the field 6

7 Following Family Tradition 7

8 Friends/Siblings working in the same field 8


School – Career Choice S.No Occupation Arts % Commerce % Science % Frequency Frequency Frequency

1 Agriculture 6 2.8 4 0.8 4 0.8

2 Architecture 11 5.1 19 3.7 18 3.7

3 Banking 6 2.8 24 4.7 3 0.6

4 Business 2 0.9 6 1.2

5 Commerce and Financial Operations 7 3.2 148 29.1 16 3.3

6 Communicative Art 41 18.9 19 3.7 11 2.3

7 Community and Social Service 19 8.8 2 0.4 4 0.8

8 Computers and IT 3 1.4 14 2.8 17 3.5

9 Education and Training 3 1.4 4 0.8 1 0.2

10 Engineering 4 1.8 18 3.5 123 25.4

11 Entrepreneurship 5 1 4 0.8

12 Government & Public Administration 13 6 11 2.2 15 3.1

13 Health 2 0.9 4 0.8 58 12

14 Home Science 1 0.5 3 0.6 1 0.2

15 Hospitality and Tourism 9 4.1 22 4.3 7 1.4

16 Law 18 8.3 8 1.6 8 1.6

17 Life Science including Psychology 12 5.5 3 0.6 41 8.5

18 Management and Administration 7 3.2 28 5.5 9 1.9

19 Marketing & Sales 3 0.6 2 0.4

20 Music 15 6.9 15 2.9 10 2.1

21 Office and Administrative Support 1 0.5 3 0.6

22 Performing Art 4 1.8 26 5.1

23 Personal Care and Service Operations 3 1.4 2 0.4 1 0.2

24 Physical Science 2 0.9 6 1.2 32 6.6

25 Protective Services 1 0.5 13 2.6 16 3.3

26 Research 6 1.2

27 Social Sciences 5 2.3 4 0.8

28 Sports 3 1.4 14 2.8 8 1.6

29 Support Systems 1 0.2

30 Transportation 2 0.9 14 2.8 25 5.2

31 Veterinary Science 1 0.2

32 Visual Art 15 6.9 13 2.6 15 3.1

Not answered 2 0.9 54 10.4 28 5.8

Faculty choice not required / 49 22.58 133 26.13 63 12.98 feasible for career choice

Total (unanswered and wrong choice) 51 23.50 187 36.73 91 18.76


Comparison of High School and College Students on career choices

Com

mer

ce &

Fin

ance

Engi

neer

ing

Com

mun

icat

ive

Art

Hea

lth

Life

Sci

ence

Arch

itec

ture

Man

agem

ent &

Adm

in

Vis

ual A

rt

Tran

spor

tati

on

Phys

ical

Sci

ence

Perf

orm

ing

Art

Com

pute

rs &

IT

Spor

ts

20

18

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

High School

College

CAREER

%

Rank Career

Percent College Rank School Rank

1 Commerce and Finance 14.1 1 4.2 9

2 Engineering 12.0 2 18.9 1

3 Communicative Art 5.9 3

4 Health 5.3 4 8.2 2

5 Life Science 4.6 5 5.2 5

6 Architecture 4.0 6 4.8 6

7 Management & Administration 3.6 7

8 Visual Art 3.6 8

9 Transportation 3.4 9 4.1 10

10 Physical Science 3.3 10 5.7 4

11 Performing Art 4.5 8

12 Computers and IT 6.1 3

13 Sports 4.7 7

7



educafé Student Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

12, 80 Feet Road, HMT Layout,

RT Nagar, Bangalore 560032

Phone: +91 80 4124 4184

eMail: [email protected]

www.educafe.com

educafé, an initiative of Eduquity Career Technologies Pvt. Ltd., was

established on the premise that every child has the potential to be a

successful individual and needs to only discover his / her true self to

reach that goal. We at educafé, hold firm to our belief that the central

purpose of education is to cater to the intellectual, emotional, and

social needs of all students. To this extent, we have combined

assessment, counselling and development-oriented solutions with

modern technological interventions. From facilitating right career

choices to enhancing cognitive skills, academic skills and life skills,

educafé has a solution for all students.

The basic premise of educafé is learning through fun. While the end

product (learning outcomes) has serious overtones and aims at

all-round development of the student – the process or journey is fun

filled, youthful and joyous. We would like to offer an environment

which is non-threatening and has a comfortable and secure ambience

(both online and offline) to students to avail of our products, be it

counselling, assessment, training or tutoring.

educafé has significant experience and exposure in impacting

students through high quality counseling and performance

enhancement inputs. Over the past decade and more, the educafe

team has counseled and trained thousands of students and delivered

life altering workshops in numerous schools and higher education

institutions across the country.

a billion hopes & desires - educafe.com · nearly quarter of the sample studied are unlikely to...

Documents