In Pursuit of Aspirations and Status through Education:

A Study of Parents and Students in Nilambur

Razin Abdullah

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences

Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Hyderabad
2019
 SELF- DECLARATION

I, Razin Abdullah, hereby declare that this dissertation titled ' In Pursuit of Aspirations and Status
through Education: A study of Parents and Students in Nilambur ' is the result of my own
individual study undertaken under the mentoring of Dr. Murali Krishna, Assistant Professor,
Azim Premji school of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. This project work
is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of
Arts in Social Sciences.. The results embodied in this thesis have not been submitted to any other
University or Institute for the award of any degree and the sources used in this dissertation by me
have been duly acknowledged .

12 March 2019 Razin Abdullah

 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the dissertation titled ' In Pursuit of Aspirations and Status through
Education: A study of Parents and Students in Nilambur' is the record of the original work done by
Razin Abdullah under my guidance and supervision. The results of the research presented in the
dissertation thesis have not previously formed for the award of any degree , diploma or certificate
of this institute or any other institute or university.

12 March 2019 Dr Murali Krishna

Assistant Professor
Azim Premji School of Education
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of my friends and family.
I extend my sincere gratitude to my mentor, Dr. Murali Krishna for having faith in me and
encouraging me throughout the dissertation, which boosted my confidence.
I owe research, and everything that I am, to my father and mother, who introduced me to the world
of thought and literature and of creative expression.
It is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to extend my gratitude to everyone who helped me
throughout the course of this Study.
I would like to thank my roommates Anshuman Tyagi and Krishnanath C who provided me with
ideas whenever I needed them.
I would also like to thank all parents and students who cooperated and enthusiastically participated
in the research, without whom this research would not have been possible.
Above all, to the Great Almighty, the author of knowledge and wisdom, for his countless love.
I am grateful to all my dear friends for their timely help and support.

Place: Hyderabad
Date: 13/03/2019
 Contents
CHAPTER I

Introduction...............................................................................................................1

CHAPTER II

Review of Literature.................................................................................................4

CHAPTER III

Methodology............................................................................................................12

CHAPTER IV

Findings and Analysis....................................................................................................................16

CHAPTER V

Conclusion..............................................................................................................23
References...............................................................................................................27
Appendix.................................................................................................................28
 Abbreviations Used
B Com - Bachelor of Commerce
IIT - Indian Institute of Technology
BBA - Bachelor of Business Administration
MBA - Master of Business Administration
OMR - Optical mark recognition
IIM - Indian Institute of Management
AIIMS – All - India Institute of Medical Sciences
JIPMER - Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education Research
MBBS - Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery
IAS – Indian Administrative Service
 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

Education has been considered till now as the instrument that is used for creating a social order that
is entrenched in the values of freedom , social justice and equal opportunity. Many educationists,
social scientists and politicians purported this view and even the third five year plan of India
recognized the importance of education in achieving economic development and technological
growth. Moreover, the education commission which is also known as the Kothari commission
states that education system of our country should ensure that it brings together different groups
and social classes and encourage the advancement of integrated and egalitarian society. The
educational system in any society has significant role in the development, training and allocation of
human resources. Ideally, this must be done based on the interests and abilities that people possess
by channeling them into streams of training that trains them to fulfill the demands of their
occupational needs on the one hand and meeting the society's needs for trained human resources on
the other. It is need of a developing country like India to have a powerful education system in
place for social and economic change to yield a society whose values are derived from equality and
social justice to obtain an overall development of the country and to reduce inequities and
inequalities.

Research Problem
India, even after two decades of planning, is still far from obtaining social and economic equality,
for a large segment of it's population. The large section of its developing and expanding
educational facilities resume to benefit the already privileged segments of the society disturbs the
concerned people in the country. Instead of fulfilling the education commissions vision of
encouraging the advancement of egalitarian and integrated society by bringing different social
groups and classes together, the educational system tends to augment social segregation and widen
class distinctions. Good education is always made available to a small minority which is usually
selected on the basis of their capacity to pay fees and not on the basis of their talent , instead of
providing it to all children of the society or at least to the able children. Moreover, educational
aspirations of lower sections of the society are kept alive by means of mass examinations which
give them a sense of equality of opportunity. However, the upper sections of society uses various

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strategies that helps their children clear these examinations and hence keep the system of education
moving (Shah et al, 1971)

The experiences in the western countries in the stratification research area shows us that higher
educational and occupational goals are more likely to be observed in students from higher social
class than that of the students from lower social class. The education commission in India found
out that students from urban areas and from good schools or from well off homes are generally the
ones to be admitted into more important institutions. However, In India we lack reliable evidences
about the strength of relationships between social class and educational and occupational
aspirations and achievements. These include various factors such as region, community of the
student, differences in level and quality of education that is available in the country, differences in
student's access to educational facilities based on their social status, differences in student
motivation, differences in willingness and ability of parents and other significant members to
provide financial and psychological support that is necessary to maximize their talents and abilities
. (Shah et al, 1971)

Context of this Study

I along with my friends had visited one social welfare and tribal welfare school in Telangana as an
effort to provide career guidance and motivation to students who study there. We noticed that there
was a significant distinction in the aspirations of students who studied in tribal welfare school from
that of social welfare school. The aspirations of students from tribal welfare school were lower
compared to that of the students in social welfare school. This phenomenon was found to have a
significant impact on their career paths. The number of students who acquired admissions in better
institutions was lower in that of tribal welfare school compared to social welfare school. Moreover,
I had the opportunity to work with students from elite schools during my internship. These students
had aspirations that were specific and well defined. This was mainly due to their parent's effort to
provide quality education and timely assessments to understand their children's abilities and
channel those to provide them with better career paths. These experiences led me to assume that
social, economic and educational background of the parents played a pertinent role in the
formation of student's aspiration. Therefore, in this study, I will try to bring out the relationship
between the social, economic and educational background of the family with the aspirations of

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students and parents.

Relevance of this Study

There had been several studies conducted in western countries to find out the relationship between
social class and educational aspirations. These studies have found that higher aspirations were
more likely to be seen by students and parents from a higher social class than that of the lower
social class. However, in India, there is a lack of evidence to prove the strength of the relationship
between social class and aspirations of students and parents (Shah et al, 1971). Therefore, this
research will be helpful in finding out the relationship between social class and the aspirations of
students and parents and will be an important contribution to academia. This research will also be
helpful to social scientists and policy makers in order to recognize the importance of aspirations in
achieving better career paths and can work towards improving the aspirations of parents and
students. Moreover, this research also tries to find out the reasons for parents and students to have
lower educational and occupational aspirations. It also delves to understand the reasons that hinder
students and parents from achieving better career paths, even if they have higher aspirations. All
these findings will help in encouraging more studies in this area and will help in the better
formulation of policies by concerned people to improve the aspirations of parents and students. It
will also help them in taking initiatives to resolve the conundrums that lay ahead in fulfilling the
aspirations of students and parents.

Organization of this Study

This thesis is organized into five chapters including introduction as one among them. The second
chapter of this thesis is the review of literature which is based on the objectives of the research in
sync with the findings and analysis. The third chapter aims to explain the methods involved in the
study , sample details , and ethical considerations that were undertaken in the course of this
research.. The findings and analysis of the study is expounded in the fourth chapter. The fifth
chapter comprises of conclusions from the study and discussions surrounding it.

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 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Purpose of Education
Education, at one end of the spectrum, is considered as an ideological state apparatus by which the
ruling classes ensure that the society conforms to their interests and ideas. It is created by the ruling
classes in order to maintain their status quo and preserve their interests in the current political and
economic power structure. This is stemmed from the Gramscian thought. On the other hand,
education is considered to be the most important tool for social change by many social scientists,
politicians, educationists and educational planners and this is maintained mostly in the cases of
third world countries. The third five-year plan of India recognized that rapid economic
development and technological progress can be achieved through the single most important factor
which is education. Moreover, it also described education to be the most important instrument in
creating a social order which is founded on values of social justice, freedom and equal opportunity.
(Kamat, 1982 )

Education which was the deliberately organized instruction only covered small selected elite
groups in society like priestly class, merchants, traders and warriors until a few centuries ago. It
was in the advent of capitalism and industrialization, that education started to spread to wider
sections of the society. In modern society, education has become a highly complex organization
and the educational system attempts to embrace almost all people in their young age by equipping
them with at least minimum skills of literacy and numeracy. With the increasing coverage and
specialization in education, various roles and manning variety of jobs at various levels in society is
realized through training personnel and equipping them with information, skills, knowledge, and
values. A considerable amount of influence is employed on the levels, specializations, and content
of education since the economy is a consumer of the educational product. This influence is fulfilled
through political and administrative apparatus. The allocative function of education in the modern
era, with its different levels, different specializations and certification process distributes the
younger generation to various roles in society according to their possession of appropriate
certificates and diplomas, specifying certain abilities, skills, and values. Therefore the existing
socioeconomic position is legitimized through education by convincing the losers or relative losers

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that their failure is due to their lack of abilities, skills, and values which is the failure in education.
This allocative function of education generates more and more demands for more and more
education which increases the common people's dependence on and subjugation to the education
system while contributing to its expansion. (Kamat, 1982 )

Massive expansion of education along with large allocation of funds were disbursed using the
justification of education as a significant contributor in economic growth. It was disbursed in
response to the sizable demand for educational facilities from the concerned sections of the society
. However, it was discovered that education helped in the continuation of existing outdated internal
politico – economic power structure on one hand and strengthened old inequalities and generated
fresh ones with their dependent relationship with developed countries ,on the other. Education has
helped to achieve embourgeoisement, to a limited extent , of certain segments of the society.
Change due to education was visualized in tradition modernity paradigm , with a stress on cultural ,
rather than on structural change when education was supposed be the main tool of change in social
sphere. Therefore , education has by and large exert to maintain the social stratification that is
currently existing and in the persistence of ideas and values of the dominant social classes and their
political, social and economic interests. ( Kamat , 1982 )

Although education is supportive of the prevalent socio-economic structure, imbalances in it can

give rise to dissent, dissatisfaction, dissonance, disharmony and even revolt due to three reasons.
The first reason is the non-static nature of the political power structure with its underlying socio-
economic structure, which leads to varying social situations. Political confrontations between
opposing classes can bring up a new social situation which can lead to changing the educational
system. The second reason is the achievement of autonomy by the educational system in the course
of development, like every other subsystem in the general social framework. This is dependent on
the conflicts and contradictions in the educational system in relation to the socio-economic system.
The third reason is due to the characteristic of education, which is the development and progress of
human society. It has the potential to generate a spirit of questioning the accepted truths although it
generally dominates and domesticates individuals as was discussed earlier. Therefore the scope for
a rebellious character in spite of its conformatory and confirmatory character gives hope for several
well-wishers of education. (Kamat, 1982 )

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How Educational System in India Ignites Aspirations of all Classes?
One of the most important paths to the making of the egalitarian society is through the circulation
of elite roles. The constitution of our country stipulates education to be the major path to ensure
equality of opportunity to rise to higher positions in the stratified society. However, the educational
system has been constructed in means that hinders the mobility of deprived sections to higher
positions, leading to the reproduction of society as opposed to the transformation of the society as
was envisioned in the constitution. There are two pertinent features that govern Indian Educational
system, which is the early selection and mass examination . The potential of education in the
distribution of power and the circulation of elite roles can be studied from these features. (Kumar,
1985)

Placing children in different types of institutions that allow mobility through sponsored as opposed
to contesting means is what is named as the early selection. These students who are selected out of
the rest and placed in separate institutions are trained differently in terms of behavioral norms,
skills, and values that will result in the promotion of elite status in their later life. These trainings
become costly affairs and therefore school selection is significantly determined by the economic
status of the parent. Hence, the socioeconomic background becomes inseparable from the selection
of merit. This early selection occurs at the private and public level. Government schools are
stratified into many such as Sainik, Navodaya and Sarvodaya schools in order to cater superior
education to specific groups of parents and act as pace-setting institutions. Private schools with its
meritocratic ideology of identifying and harnessing talent with all available means have now
become legitimate means of expanding and improving education. The sponsored mobility that is
derived from these exclusive schools offers routes to elite jobs, starting with admissions into elite
institutions such as IITs and IIMs. (Kumar, 1985)

Most of the government initiatives in order to screen students with merit end up in an exorbitant
selection of students from private sector schooling and elite government schools. Every year
students from private schools receive the majority of the available scholarships in the National
Science Talent Search Examination (NSTSE) conducted by the National Council of Educational

6|Page
Research and Training (NCERT). The Education Commission (1964 – 66) which had an outlook of
being more egalitarian than any other previous or subsequent bodies promoted the requirement for
quality schools in the government sector and at least one good college in each district on merit
basis. However, the monopolization of these colleges by the students from private schools did not
concern the commission. The only provision to protect the good colleges from this kind of
monopolization by the better of sections is through the distribution of scholarships to the deserving
poor. This is the only means by which how they would make it college level . (Kumar, 1985)

In order to counterbalance the strong emphasis on early selection, mass examinations were evolved
as the main operating mechanism. All schools are obliged to take part in national level or state
level examinations. The features of these examinations are the secrecy of paper setters, strict
invigilation and delayed result declaration. The symbolic message that these features carry is that
all individuals have an equal chance in clearing these exams. The confidence and expectations of
masses are kept alive through mass examination, which has the aforementioned features of secrecy
and parity among examinees. Whereas early selection through private schools ensure that
privileged treatment is provided to elite sections of the society. Therefore, early selection and mass
examinations become conflicting characteristics that legitimize the education system. (Kumar,
1985)

The bureaucratic governance of education involved in the written examination, which emerged
after the demise of the old locally governed education system in the latter half of the nineteenth
century. The major function of mass examination is to confine the textbooks to the prescribed
curriculum. Moreover, it gives the Indian middle class a sense of hope for mobility to elite
positions. However, an endless rehearsal of skills is required to clear these examinations.
According to Weber, education is used to awaken charisma and to impart expert training. The
former leads to a charismatic structure of domination whereas the latter corresponds to the
bureaucratic and rational structure of domination. The centralized examinations have reshaped the
image of an educated man in societal perception. In colonial India, this is how the role of the
administrator turned into the image of the highest educated individual. Therefore, mass
examinations become arenas of competition for the achievement of power and status. However,
early selection serves as routes towards status professions to children of the elite. (Kumar, 1985)

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The circulation of elite positions can be conveniently studied from the recruitment of Indian
Administrative Service (IAS) officers. Studies show that this recruitment process of IAS officers is
a reproductive one to a considerable extent. As per the studies, Year after year, sons of those
already in civil service constitute a significant proportion of the recruits. There are few schools
and colleges from which a major chunk of recruits studied. Reservation was the only ladder by
which the downtrodden members of the society could climb up to these elite positions. 'However,
the system could not be called as a success because of its inability to break the monopoly of those
holding a higher status in society. However, a slow trend of erosion of monopoly from the
traditional Brahmin caste is observed in recent times, which paved way for the ascendancy of
landowning middle castes into elite positions. (Kumar, 1985)

How Guidance can Change the lives of Rural Students:

According to Gladwell, steady accumulation of advantages such as the place of birth, parent's
occupation and the circumstances of upbringing determines success and how well a person does in
the world. Young people who are in situations of social and economic disadvantage suffer from a
shortage of inspiration and dearth of role models apart from the low quality of education that they
receive since there is hardly anyone from them who has become engineers or MBA or IAS in the
past. Still, there are school goers who aspire to become engineers or MBAs. Surveys that were
done earlier have revealed about the lack of awareness about such possibilities in rural areas.
However, people who somehow manage gain knowledge about these possibilities remain confused
and unsure about the means to proceed. A higher level of parents education, especially that of
mothers is seen as a significant factor in gaining entry to the higher ranked institution. Parents
living in rural areas have little or no formal education due to the nonexistence of schools in rural
areas during their school going age. These parents are unable to monitor what their children learn
in schools and are unable to provide their children with useful information and career guidance.
(Krishna, 2013)

According to a study conducted in the US, High achieving students from relatively poverty-
stricken backgrounds were able to make a significant difference with the limited amount of careful

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guidance and information provision. Students from low-income backgrounds were much more
likely to apply and be accepted to selective colleges when they received easy to understand packets
of information about processes involved in college applications and about the costs that they are
likely to incur in their colleges. These students who were from low-income background performed
as well as better off peers once they entered the colleges, proving that potential exists in low-
income students but needs to be activated. In India, poor information and lack of role models
probably play an important role in hindering the educational achievement of students from rural
backgrounds. Therefore, there is a need for institutions in rural areas and urban slums that can
endow individuals with career information, guidance and motivation, and creating role models for
the future. Such interventions alone cannot resolve the problem. Factors such as health and
education also need to be addressed in parallel. A crucial stimulus can be generated by helping one
or two talented hardworking individuals from poor rural and urban slum communities and will
raise the aspirations of many others like them. Once the communities and individuals are motivated
in this manner, they will no longer hopelessly accept low-quality education and teacher
absenteeism which will make the futures of their children at stake. (Krishna, 2013)

Muslims and Civil Services

The public services selection procedure is often alleged to be discriminatory by the Muslim
leadership. However, objectivity and transparency have reduced or eliminated the element of bias
in the procedure or system. The system of using OMR sheets and roll numbers have no scope for
biased evaluation. The personal interview is the only case in which subjectivity has a greater role.
However, by assigning low weight-age to the interview marks the element of bias is significantly
reduced and only work in marginal cases where rank might be affected without getting eliminated.
Another argument to support the lower representation of Muslims is attributed to their socio-
economic and educational backwardness in the country. However, the backgrounds of 1997 IAS
examination was released and it was found that a significant proportion of candidates hailed from
poor socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Findings confirm that less affluent sections of
the society with limited educational and financial resources constitute the majority of the of
successful IAS aspirants and the elite sections of the society have less incentive or inspiration for
these services. (Naseem,2001)

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Considering the number of students who cleared the IAS examination in the year 1997 – 98, the
performance of students of Aligarh Muslim University was far behind in comparison to some
universities and premier engineering institutes such as IITs. The number of successful candidates
from different institutions depends on the number of candidates appeared from those institutions.
The number of candidates that come from AMU and Jamia Millia Islamia, which are supposed to
send a large number of candidates is not quite enough. The high failure ratio in civil services
stands as an important deterrent in making it an ultimate goal. The policy adopted by most of the
students is to secure a professional degree and then try for civil services. As most of the talented
students take up professional courses such as medicine, engineering and business administration
also have the capability to clear the civil service examination. Therefore, the success ratio from
these backgrounds is higher than that of any other backgrounds. However, AMU students seem to
be content with their professional degree and do not attempt the civil service examinations. There
is a very lower proportion from Medicine, Engineering and Business Administration students in
AMU who opt to go for civil services. (Naseem, 2001)

Does Premiere Institutes like IITs enable Social Mobility?

In actual sense, socio-cultural factors determine the admissions to IITs even though the admission
is based on Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) with no imposition of any artificial restrictions.
These socio-cultural factors include quality of education previously received, the ability to afford
education, awareness of the existence of technological education and appreciation of its
importance. All these factors are closely linked and cannot be viewed in isolation. It is also
important to have an awareness of opportunities in education that offers good career possibilities
and this awareness is higher in urban areas where these opportunities are concentrated. Whereas in
rural areas this awareness is low due to lack of such opportunities. This awareness is higher among
the upper classes who enjoy social hierarchy since they are more educated than the lower classes.
This reason enables them to select the best schools for their children. These schools, which are
expensive than the government schools or any other aided schools, tend to draw and provide
education to select sections of the society. Therefore, it is found that there are inherent disabling
and debilitating factors which prevent certain segments of society in securing advantage of new
educational opportunities, although no intentional preclusion is possible from securing admission.
IITs are capable of producing a class of potential elite, but the potential elite is itself recruited from

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the upper segments of the society. Therefore IITs provide a very limited contribution towards
social mobility. (Rajagopalan et al, 1968,)

Socio Economic Changes in Northern Kerala due to Migration:

Industrialization and social change occurred in West Asian countries due to the oil price hike and
consequent revenue earnings. This necessitated the services of foreign workers in large numbers.
Since then, a large number of workers started to migrate to West Asian countries. The migrations
accelerated from a few thousand in the 1970s to large proportions in 1980s and 1990s. According
to current estimates, the total stock of 28 lakh of Indian migrants works in West Asian countries
out of which half hail from Kerala. In terms of intensity, the northern districts of Kerala such as
Trichur, Malappuram Calicut, Cannanore and Kasargod has the highest number of migrants. The
trend of migration created certain impacts on occupations and education in these regions. The
major impact of migration was a significant reduction in unemployment. Skilled workers,
especially in the construction field, constituted the major chunk of the migrants. These migrants
used their remittances for constructing new houses. This created a demand for construction
workers in Kerala, which was taken over by the workers from neighboring states, especially from
Tamil Nadu. Introduction of vocational education and skill training started due to the opportunities
in the labor market in West Asian countries. Unemployed youths started joining courses by private
agencies to earn skills required for jobs in West Asia. Most of these courses were construction
related such as motor operation, machine operation, welding, computer operation, tailoring,
paramedical courses etc. Gulf migrants who returned from West Asia after their contracts showed
reluctance in continuing their traditional works. Due to the migration, consumption and
expenditure increased resulting in a significant hike in prices of land and other goods. This has
affected the distribution of income, favoring some sections of people while adversely affecting
others. ( Prakash, 1998 )

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 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
In this dissertation, various tools and techniques were made use of and this section will discuss the
procedures followed to complete this research project These include field study, data collection,
the study of demography and social status, site profile, sample, sample size, data analysis and so
on. This section will further illuminate on the research process and the ethical considerations that
were followed.

Objective:
This Research aims at capturing the aspirations of parents and students in Nilambur taluk (Kerala),
which is currently a rural area emerging into an urban one. It aims at discovering the factors that
hinders mobility through education. The research helps in pointing out policies that have been
reproducing society from time to time without making substantial change or help in the mobility of
people. Capturing aspirations of different social classes and assessing the extent of its realization
will enable us to ponder over the reasons for the same and restructure the policies of education in
order to create a society whose values are entrenched in equality, equity and freedom.

Description of Site:
The research has been done in Nilambur Taluk of Malappuram District which is in the northern
part of Kerala. Nilambur is a semi-urban area still possessing its ruralness in many parts of the
taluk . Muslims constitute majority of the population. However, it is moving rapidly towards
urbanization due to two main reasons. One is due to it's importance of tourism. Nilambur is known
for its Teak forests and greenery. A considerable number of tourists visit Nilambur and the
government has been constantly developing the infrastructure and creating more tourist spots to
attract more tourists. This move of the government is bringing rapid urbanization in Nilambur. The
second reason for urbanization is derived from the migration of people to west Asian countries
where they accustom to city life. These people who come back from those countries create a
demand for the urban experience which led to the emergence of many shops and supermarkets.
Moreover, Nilambur has secured credit for being the first municipality in India to provide primary
level education to all its people which is also a significant factor to our study.

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 Research Questions :

Research Question 1: What are the educational and occupational aspirations of parents and
students across classes? Are the aspirations of parents and students higher as they move up the
socio -economic ladder?

Research Question 2 : What are the influences that have shaped their aspirations? Whose
aspirations have better grounds?

Research Question 3 : What are the means that parents and students follow in order to attain their
aspirations? What factors hinders them from attaining their aspirations?

Research Design and Sample Selection:

An exploratory qualitative research was carried out focusing on the educational aspirations of
parents and students from different classes of society. Parents and students at Nilambur Taluk were
taken for the study. People were stratified into four groups based on their income, which was lower
class, lower middle class, upper middle class, and upper class. They were categorized based on the
types of houses they lived in because the people in Nilambur generally prioritize building homes
and in such a way that it showcases their economic status. Therefore:
 People who lived in rented houses or in houses that were built by the government under the
laksham veedu scheme were categorized into lower class sections
 People who owned houses whose roofing was made of bricks were categorized as lower
middle classes.
 People who owned medium sized houses with concrete ceiling were categorized as upper-
middle-class sections. and
 People who lived in large bungalows were categorized as upper-class sections.
Two to ten parents along with their children were interviewed about their aspirations and questions
relating to the same. More focus was given to parent's narration as they narrated their
developmental path too. All the students were studying in grades 6-12 and three of them were

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undergoing coaching for engineering. Moreover, 2 - 4 youths either working or continuing study
were also interviewed from each category to examine the level of aspirational achievement that
they have attained. The students were mainly boys although boys and girls were interviewed . The
sampling techniques that were employed in this research were non probability convenient and
purposive sampling. Content analysis and narrative analysis are the two analytical techniques that
were used in this research.

Sample:
The sample consisted of eight parents and their children from the lower class, nine from lower
middle class seven from the upper middle class and two from the upper class. Out of this, 46.15 %
of children were presently studying in school, 19.23 % of them have passed school and were
studying further, 1.54 % of them were going for coaching and 23.08 of them were working (See
the Figure 1). 88.46 % of the sample were believers in Islam, 7.69 % of them believed in
Hinduism and 3.85 % of them were believers of
Christianity. (
See figure 2)

Figure 1 Figure 2

Research Tools:
The primary tool for conducting the interview was the pre-designed questionnaire with many open-
ended questions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents and students as

14 | P a g e
informants. It helped in framing new questions from the answers that they have provided. They
shared their aspirations, basis for their expectations and means by which they aim to fulfill their
expectations. The interviews were conducted in a time span of 30 – 60 minutes. Most of the
questions in the questionnaire were open-ended questions where people narrated their life stories
and the role of education in it. These narrations included their socio-economic conditions and the
changes that were visible in their lives from earlier times.

Research Process:
The researcher traveled from house to house in search of participants. Parents were interviewed
before their children were interviewed in order to obtain their consent for interviewing their
children. The researcher faced several challenges while conducting the research. Some of the
women in houses declined to give an interview stating that there were no men in the house. The
interviewer could only go to the houses in the evening because students would be in schools and
colleges all other times. Moreover, the dreadful conditions in lower class households, especially
people with major diseases were disheartening for the researcher and found it hard to conduct a
complete interview. Many a time, participants had a lot to share about their life experiences and
thoughts, to which they returned even after the researcher tried to divert them to different
questions.

Ethical Considerations:
The field visit and interview were conducted strictly considering the code of conduct and research
ethics. Participants at no point of time were subjected to sentimentally disturbing questions or
pressurized to answer any questions at any point time and discipline was maintained throughout the
interview. The participants were given extensive freedom to answer the questions that they
comfortable to answer. Consent from parents was secured before interviewing their minor children.
The declaration of all details of the study and interview was intimated to every participant who
participated in the study. A declaration of complete anonymity at all stages of the dissertation was
assured to each and every participant before beginning interviews.

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 CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

The findings from the field are expounded in this chapter. This chapter of the dissertation attempts
to explain the aspirations of parents and students, different influences that led to their formation of
aspirations and the level of realization of aspiration across the four classes which are the lower
class, lower middle class, upper middle class, and upper class. It is also imperative to discuss the
social and economic conditions of people of these classes and this section will examine the same.

This research found out that the aspirations of parents are one of the significant factors that drive
students towards higher status in life. The results of the study showed that students whose parents
have low expectations, tend to have similar expectations for themselves. Whereas, students whose
parents had higher expectations had higher expectations to achieve greater heights in their life. It
was also seen that the expectations of parents and students were similar because the expectations of
students derived from the expectations of parents or parents supported the aspirations of students.
No cases of conflicting aspirations were found. However, the expectations varied across the four
classes of people. These expectations mainly depended on the level of exposure that they received
from their life and the role models that they see in similar sections of society.

More than half of the students and parents interviewed aspired for higher occupations through
better education. However, different obstacles in their path such as lack of economic resources,
lack of awareness of techniques for selection and lack of role models willing to help them makes it
harder for them to realize their expectations. There is a need for examining both educational and
occupational aspirations separately in this study because many times it was found that these are not
complementary to each other. It means that higher educational aspirations do not mean having
higher occupational aspirations. For instance, there were parents and students who aspired for
better education in premier institutes when they did not have a clear idea about the occupational
prospect. On the other hand, there were students and parents who had occupational aspirations but
did not find formal education as the best means to fulfill their aspirations. The former phenomena

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are mostly seen in the upper and upper middle classes whereas the latter phenomenon was
observed in the lower and lower middle classes.
The social and economic conditions of the place play a significant role in the aspirations of people.
In Nilambur which is in the northern part of Kerala, the determinant factor of socioeconomic
conditions is determined by the migration of its people to West Asia. Significant numbers of
people have acquired economic and social mobility from lower classes to upper classes due to
migration and do have a comparatively better quality of life. However, those people who were not
able to migrate to West Asian countries suffered the most. Due to migration, the consumption and
expenditure of families of migrants increased leading to higher prices for commodities and land.
This adversely affected the lower class who could not even afford to migrate. Many of the lower
class are able to sustain their lives because of the help they receive from their family members,
neighbors, philanthropists or the government.

Lower Class Aspirations, Influences, and Achievements:

The aspirations of parents and students in the lower classes are mostly occupation based and
includes migration to West Asia, becoming a doctor or teacher, obtaining a government job and
skill-based jobs like becoming a bus driver. The informant parents among lower class work as auto
and jeep drivers, as madrassa teachers, servants porters and woodcutters. In most of the cases, the
parents were victims of chronic diseases or were in serious debts or both. They lived in rented
houses or in houses that were provided by the government through the scheme known as laksham
veedu. Both parents have to work in most households, in order to meet the living expenditures.
Coupled with so many problems parents were not able to concentrate in child's education and left
it completely to the government schools. However, they hope that their children by studying hard
will become professionals like doctors so that they would not have to spend all their hard earned
money in the hospitals or hope that they would cure their diseases. But they are aware that it is a
distant dream because no one from their colony has ever become professionals like doctors.
Students from this class aspire for a higher job, but the situations back at home stand as a
hindrance in their educational path. Due to their socioeconomic situations, students from this class
ends up doing unskilled jobs or skilled family jobs even though they yearn for occupations that are
valued. However, they prefer doing their works in West Asian countries where they believe that
they would receive higher pay for the same work that they do here.

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Lower Middle-Class Aspirations, Influences, and Achievements:
The aspirations of lower-middle-class parents and students involve mainly migration to West Asia,
becoming football players or having a government job apart from the aspiration for professional
jobs such as that of doctors, MBAs, and engineers. Their aspiration for migration to West Asia is
due to the social capital people have there and many examples of people who have gone to west
Asia and sending family money from there. Therefore, parents prefer students to migrate to West
Asian countries in order to receive their remittances. The emigration to West Asia was the most
significant reason why people did not try for government jobs. For instance, there was a parent
who received a government job when he was young and still migrated to West Asia due to family
pressure. Comparing the wages and living expenditures of the migrants, their real incomes are
almost similar compared to what they receive in west Asian countries for non-professional jobs.
Their voluntary abstinence from various expenditures when they live in those countries is what
enables them to send money to their homes. Even then, they prefer to do these jobs there due to the
low social status these jobs offer in our country. The trend for migration is decreasing as many
countries in West Asia have started practicing nationalization of job sector. Some of the youths are
trying for the public service commission examinations conducted by the Kerala government.
However, due to the uncertainty in receiving a government job, most of the students from the lower
middle-class study in art colleges or vocational courses. Many students are advised by their family
members in West Asian countries to take up vocational courses that they feel would get them jobs
abroad. Parents are not seen encouraging their children to take admissions in Navodaya Vidyalaya,
which provides education in English medium, because of the policy where students have to move
to other states during their study.

Upper-Middle-Class Aspirations, Influences, and Achievements:

The parents in the upper middle class constituted gulf migrants, businessmen, Real estate brokers
and Government school teachers. The students and parents in this class either aim for engineering
or medicine from premier institutes in the country. They attend coaching during their grade 11 and
12 .Many repeat a year for cracking the examinations. The truth is that only a minute proportion of
them make it to premier institutes like AIMS, JIPMER or IITs. Therefore, the rest end up in for

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courses and institutes they desired the least such as in veterinary course and in private engineering
colleges. Another path which students from this class pursue is Bcom or BBA and then MBA.
Some amount of students aspire for becoming a chartered accountant, but mostly end up without
fulfilling their dream. The students will be already categorized mainly into three by the time they
complete class 10th in terms of their academic performance. This is done by the allotment to
different streams in class 11. Hence the academically well-performing students get into the science
stream, the next best get into commerce stream and the least performing students get humanities
stream. The distinction between streams seems like a social class distinction. The science stream is
always occupied by the upper and upper middle class. The commerce stream is occupied by the
upper middle class and lower middle class. The humanities are mostly occupied by the lower and
lower middle class. Parents of upper and middle classes are cautious that their children do not end
up in humanities stream. Therefore, they send their children to private schools, many of which do
not have a humanities stream.

Upper-Class Aspirations, Influences, and Achievements:

The parents of the upper class in the study constituted businessmen in West Asian countries. Their
children had ambitions like becoming aeronautical engineers which require higher amounts of
money which they were able to finance. Some of their students wished to acquire admissions to the
premier institutes but they could not clear it despite multiple tries. This did not pose a problem to
them since they were sent to China and Russia for studying MBBS. Whereas there were students
who were sent to study MBA from England and other European countries. The tendency to study
abroad has trickled down to the upper middle class too, for many reasons. First is the perception
that a better quality of education is available there than in India. Second is the disbursal of
educational loans by banks and the scholarships provided by colleges there, making less difference
in cost of education there compared to that in here if they study in private colleges, For instance, a
private MBBS seat costs around 40 – 50 lakhs in India, which would almost be the cost if they
studied from abroad. Moreover, their professions get more recognition there than in India which
leads to the availability of job opportunities there which has higher pay than they receive here.

It was observed that fathers were more concerned about their child's education than mothers in the
upper class whereas it was mothers who were more concerned about children's education in the

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upper middle class with few exceptions. Most of the parents interviewed were not highly educated.
The social and economic mobility that is achieved by parents were mainly from the migration to
West Asian countries. Many of the parents in the upper and upper middle classes cited their
adverse conditions in childhood to be the prime reason for their migration. Due to those conditions,
they were not able to study. They earned more from their physical labor or business in West Asia
which they would not have received if they stayed here. For instance, the jobs of upper-middle-
class parents included fish business and tailoring in West Asia. However, many of the upper-class
parents despite their stories aims for better social status by providing education to their children.
Due to their lack of knowledge and opportunities, they were unable to employ an early selection of
their children. Therefore their students did not have better chances of selection through mass
examinations. Therefore they employed alternative means to fulfill their occupational expectations
like sending them to China and Russia for studying medicine to make them doctors. Therefore, the
upper classes are able to fulfill their occupational expectations despite using the methods of early
selection. However, their educational expectations of sending students to premiere institutes
remain unfulfilled. However, they overcome this by sending their children abroad to study which
endows them with similar social position. Due to the beneficial experience from migration, parents
are ready to take the risk of teaching their children abroad.

Difference between Rural and Urban Elite:

On the contrary urban elite class are aware of the educational and occupational opportunities and
does know the means to achieve those. They employ techniques such as early selection to fulfill
their aspirations, which is also the result of education and exposure that they have.. The students
are very well aware of their aspirations and are very specific about their goals. They are brought up
in situations where they are exposed to skills and values that are required for better education and
better occupation. However, even the upper class students and parents in rural areas lack these
features. The prime reasons for this are the lack of awareness and lack of facilities to provide early
selection techniques. The only means parents and students are aware of, in order to acquire quality
education in India is by cracking entrance examinations and this they can do is only through
coaching institutions.

Motives of Students Undergoing Coaching:

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With the advent of coaching institutes in Nilambur, there is an increased number of students from
upper middle classes and few lower middle classes aspiring to clear mass examinations such as
NEET and JEE in order to secure admission to premier institutes such as AIIMS and IITs. There
are many students who rigorously work hard to clear these examinations. However, their motives
behind studying hard to clear these examinations are worth examining. When engineering aspirants
from the coaching institutes were enquired about the engineering stream that they wished to join, it
was found out that many of them had not given much thought about it. They were too engrossed in
cracking the exam that they cared less about anything else beyond that. These students only had the
aspiration to study in the premier institutes of the country with the best facilities and just becoming
a professional with no considerations of what they are going to do with their education. Coaching
institutes were able to establish a false consciousness in students successfully that the admission to
the premier institutes will give them a good life. Therefore, students think very less beyond
acquiring admission to these institutes. This lack of clear career goal leaves students confused
about their aim in life and reap less outcome out of their studies.

A Low Aspiration for Indian Civil Services:

There were no civil service officers who were found in the study. Moreover, there was less number
of civil service coaching institutes found in Nilambur compared to engineering and medical.
Muslims inherently have a feeling that they would not make up to the civil services due to three
reasons. One is due to the belief that the selection procedure is biased which has been successfully
purported by the politicians there. A majority of the people are Muslims, they have been influenced
by this claim. However, this claim is far from the truth. The objectivity, transparency, usage of
OMR and roll numbers in the civil service examinations prove the unbiased character of this
examination. The interview which is the only place where bias can play has a weight of below 20
%. Another reason for low aspiration for civil services stems from the abysmal lack of examples to
follow. Students are not able to find someone who has cleared the examination and make them
their role models. It was found that parents and students who wished to secure admissions to IITs
and NITs had some examples like their family members or neighbors who were their inspiration
and role model. The belief that the family member or relatively secured admission to these premier
institutes gives students confidence that they will also be able to do the same. The third reason is
due to the amount of time that is required for civil service preparation. The societal pressure to earn

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a job and settle in life is more in Nilambur, which derives from its rural character compared to the
urban cities. However, conforming to these demands is a choice for students from an upper and
upper-middle-class background, whereas it is a necessity for lower and lower-middle-class
students. Due to this, many students who complete their degrees rush for jobs and become content
with it. Very few students were only found to be interested to study masters. The smaller average
age for marriage in Nilambur adds to this problem Therefore, students do not get ample time to
prepare for the civil service examinations. However, some students and parents from upper middle
class have just started aspiring for civil services. This might have happened due to exposure of
these classes with the personnel of civil services. Whereas, the lower and lower middle classes do
not see any superior officers than that of a village officer.

Spiritual Aspirations:
There is something called spiritual status that students and parents aspire for in the Muslim
communities apart from the social and economic status. Some parents wished to make their
children Hafiz, who would memorize the entire Quran. There were also parents who send their
children for expensive education but only expects that they become good human beings. Among
the lower classes, there were parents who aspired for social status through religious education.
Since religious authorities like Imams had a higher social status in the society, it is an opportunity
for many to rise to that status, therefore, wished to make their children Hafiz.

In this section, we have discussed the aspirations , the foundations of those aspirations and the
extent to which these aspirations get fulfilled among students and parents across four different
classes. The distinction between educational and occupational aspirations was discovered through
the study. The lower and lower middle class sections of the society mostly hold occupational
aspirations , whereas the upper and upper middle class sections hold educational aspirations. All
these aspirations are for the sake of higher status in life, which can be social and economical. The
level of exposure, examples in family and locality and through informants and teachers. The socio
economic conditions and the trend of migration to West Asia has many impacts on the formation
of aspirations of students and parents in Nilambur. Hence the findings of this study is applicable
mainly to the northern part of Kerala. The conclusions that are drawn from the findings will be
discussed in the next chapter.

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 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

Aspirations stem from the need for a higher status in life which can be social and economical. In
the present world, some professions are considered superior to others. Acquiring these professions
gives people a higher social status. People either take up professions that are already valued or
move to places where their professions are valued. Professions, therefore, determine the value and
status of human beings. In the Indian scenario, caste determined professions that each people can
take up. Since the number of lower castes were more, all the professions that they did became
devalued and undermined. Therefore, people in the lower castes always aspired for professions that
the upper castes did, but were strictly forbidden from doing those. Traditionally, upper castes
remained as landlords and zamindars whose main responsibility was to control the land and people
in the lower castes or limited to very specific professions such as that of teachers and priests. With
the coming of British to India, the upper castes were attracted by the lucrative professions
Britishers had in store and started doing jobs in army and administration. The lower castes were
withheld from getting education and hence from these jobs. Therefore, the lower castes also
became the lower class in India.

The professions that the lower castes did remain devalued in India. However, with rapid
industrialization in West Asian countries due to the discovery of oil, excessive demand for many
jobs that were considered of low value in India became valued there. This opened an opportunity
for many Indians who migrated there for economic mobility. Half of these migrants were from the
state of Kerala. After a point of time, the supply of laborers exceeded the demand for laborers in
those countries due to the enormous number of laborers from India and around the world.
Therefore, the value of their jobs in those countries also started declining. Even now, Indians prefer
to do unskilled jobs which were dominantly done by the lower castes abroad rather than in India
due to the inherent low social value attached to these jobs. As the demand for unskilled jobs or
skilled jobs that were done by the lower castes declined, an aspiration for jobs dominated by upper
castes is created. However, upper castes were able to create structural constraints for lower castes

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to attain these jobs, being in the administrative positions they held. They limited the number of
institutions that can educate individuals to attain the professions they dominated so that education
in those institutions became costly, which could only be borne by the rich. When parallel
institutions which offered the same courses emerged, they allocated special status to few
institutions whose graduates were recognized as efficient compared to all others. In order to fulfill
the constitutional demands, they conducted mass examinations which required special training that
only they could employ. For example, the JEE advanced exams which are the entrance paths to
IITs set their paper at the undergraduate level. A student who does not have special training for
years cannot clear this examination. In case a student who gets admission to these institutions
through reservation is discriminated and tortured. This is evident from the exorbitant number
suicides of lower caste students from IITs.

The distinction between educational and occupational aspirations are brought out in this research.
It was found that the upper classes had more educational aspirations whereas lower classes had
occupational aspirations. Upper-class students aspire to study in places that offer them the best
quality of education. This aspiration is mainly stemmed from their parents' aspiration for giving
their children a better future and to acquire a higher social status in society by doing higher
professions. Therefore they are ready to spend their money and do everything that is in their
capacity to educate their children. It was found that parents and students in the upper and upper
middle classes lack specificity in their occupational aspirations. This means that they aim for
higher occupational roles without completely understanding the nuances and responsibilities of the
occupation. For instance, a number of parents and students who aspire to become a doctor does not
have an opinion about the specialization that they aim at taking. For them clearing the entrance
exam itself is a big step and takes up whatever stream they are allocated to.

The occupational aspirations of most of the students and parents from lower classes were high
whereas their educational aspiration to study more or to study in better quality institutions were
low. This is mainly due to the exposure of parents with urban professions like that of doctors or
that of government officials which makes them want their children to become those, all the path to
acquiring those occupations are not a matter of concern for them or are not exposed to those.
There is very less involvement of parents in the education of their children since both parents go to

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work in most of the cases. There students in lower middle class where certain students were
aspiring to study specific courses which their relatives suggest in order attain certain jobs in West
Asian countries, like NEBOSH which is a certification to become health and safety officer.
Students from lower classes also get in contact with upper-middle-class students and there is a
tendency among students to imitate their friends. This is because upper-middle-class students
attend government schools due to the comparatively better quality of the government schools in
Nilambur. Lower class students, therefore, get inspired hearing to the dreams of their classmates
who are from upper class and wish to achieve the same.

Most of the parents who were interviewed did not have education beyond grade 10th across all
classes. Therefore, the expectations of parents and students were mostly influenced by the amount
of exposure they have, examples who are near to them and the people whom they consider as
authoritarian figures in education such as teachers. The exposure of parents among the lower
classes was comparatively lower and they did not have an understanding of the nuances in the
occupational sector. As the exposure of parents increases, they aspire higher positions for their
children. However, these aspirations are vulnerable to frequent change as most of the parents have
not yet realized the potential, abilities, and skills of their children. On the contrary to our
hypothesis that parents and students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds will have a strong
basis for their aspirations, it was found that except for the few parents who had higher educational
qualifications, parents across classes did not have a strong basis for the educational aspirations of
their children. However, migration to west Asian countries has bestowed some parents with
information about certain jobs, which they aspire for their children.

There are aspirations that can be fulfilled with money and there are aspirations that cannot be
fulfilled with money. Mostly occupational aspirations can be fulfilled with money whereas
educational aspirations were not, although changes are taking place. For the lower class people,
any aspiration that requires money beyond their capacity is unattainable. Therefore, lower class
parents who aspired to make their children professionals end up in disdain due to their inability to
spend money on education. They wish their children were bright enough to get through entrance
examinations with their intellect but do not recognize the structural constraints that are created by
others to prevent such things from happening. In the case of upper-class parents, it was found that

25 | P a g e
they were able to fulfill their occupational aspirations. They were able to make them professionals
using their money. However, the educational aspirations of parents in Nilambur to send their
children to elite institutions to acquire better social status in the new world cannot be fulfilled in
most cases because of their degree of ruralness, lack of awareness and lack of exposure. But these
parents have started sending their children to European countries, Russia and China for studying
and compensate their inability to teach their students in elite institutions in India and therefore are
overcoming the educational barrier. However, these might not be the top institutions.

In many cases it is the people at the lower classes suffers the most. The only means the meritorious
among them could achieve social mobility is through their education in government-sponsored
institutions that provide quality professional education. However, the system of education is
favorable only to the urban elites who constitute most of the seats in these institutions. It is also
worth noting that government services like the civil services also require a huge amount of time
and resources for successful entrance, which unfortunately the lower strata of the society lack.
Therefore mass examinations alone cannot ensure the equality of opportunity into educational
institutions, affirmative actions to promote the potential of individuals is also important to achieve
social mobility of lower classes of society. The affirmative actions should not cease at reservations,
but an early selection of each student in the country and providing the necessary resources to
develop their potential are necessary factors for achieving social mobility. This will help in better
management of the human resources of the country and hence in the overall development of the
country.

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 REFERENCES

Shah, V., Patel, T., & Sewell, W. (1971). SOCIAL CLASS AND EDUCATIONAL
ASPIRATIONS IN AN INDIAN METROPOLIS. Sociological Bulletin, 20(2), 113-133. Retrieved
from http://ezproxy.tiss.edu:2067/stable/23618366

Naseem A. Zaidi. (2001). Muslims in Public Service: Case Study of AMU Alumni. Economic and
Political Weekly, 36(38), 3592-3595. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.tiss.edu:2067/stable/4411134

Tilak, J. (1983). Inequality in Education by Sex in India. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations,
18(3), 375-395. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.tiss.edu:2067/stable/27768728

Kumar, K. (1985). Reproduction or Change? Education and Elites in India. Economic and Political
Weekly, 20(30), 1280-1284. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.tiss.edu:2067/stable/4374640

Kamat, A. (1982). Education and Social Change: A Conceptual Framework. Economic and
Political Weekly, 17(31), 1237-1244. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.tiss.edu:2067/stable/4371189

Rajagopalan, C., & Jaspal Singh. (1968). The Indian Institutes of Technology: Do They Contribute
to Social Mobility? Economic and Political Weekly, 3(14), 565-570. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.tiss.edu:2067/stable/4358461

KRISHNA, A. (2013). Making It in India: Examining Social Mobility in Three Walks of Life.
Economic and Political Weekly, 48(49), 38-49. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.tiss.edu:2067/stable/24478373

Prakash, B. (1998). Gulf Migration and Its Economic Impact: The Kerala Experience. Economic
and Political Weekly, 33(50), 3209-3213. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.tiss.edu:2067/stable/4407474

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 APPENDIX

Preliminary Information:
Name : Age: No. of children : Highest level of Education:
Occupation:
Questionnaire for Parents:
1.What were your expectations for yourself? Have you achieved that expectation? How?what was
the role of education in realizing your expectation or not?
2. What is the reason that you are sending your child for education? And What is your expectation
for your child by providing him education?.
3. Why do you expect this way ?What is the basis for this expectation?
4. How are you going to materialize your expectations ?What kind of institution should the child
study in order to realize their expectations.?What are the things that he should learn? ( awareness
of market, ideal institutions can be captured from this question)
5.. Are you aware of the obstacles towards realizing these expectations and the means to overcome
them? (Awareness about reservations, scholarships and financial aids is captured here)
6..Are there any alternative path in order to realize your expectation (importance of education as a
means for achievement is assessed here)
7. Have you done any research to find out about the best career options towards achieving this
goal? ( the amount of time taken in developing expectations is captured here)
8. How are you planning on achieving it? What are the steps involved in achieving it? (Their
knowledge about trajectory that needs to be followed in order to fulfill their expectations is
captured here)
9. What are the requirements for realizing this expectation and how can you provide them?
10. How viable is this path ? Will this path bring the required results?
11. What are the skills and strength's that child requires in order to attain this expectation?
12. Does your child have these strengths and skills? Is the institution helping the student in
developing those?
13. Have you tried to assess and evaluate child's strengths, interests and skills?

28 | P a g e
14. Have you tried in improving these and channelizing towards realizing your expectations?
15. What is the indicator to evaluate that children are progressing to realize this expectation
16. Is better grades an indicator of student nearing this expectation?
17. What is your involvement in educating process?
18. What are the required changes in educational system that will help in fulfilling your
expectations?

Questionnaire (for students):

1.What is the reason that you are going to school? What are your expectations by getting
education?
2. Why do you expect this way ?What is the basis for this expectation?
3. What kind of institution should you study in order to realize their expectations. What are the
things that you should learn?
4.. Are you aware of the obstacles towards realizing these expectations and the means to overcome
them?
5..Are there any alternative path in order to realize your expectation
6. Have you done any research to find out about the best career options towards achieving this
goal?
7 How are you planning on achieving it? What are the steps involved in achieving it?
8. What are the requirements for realizing this expectation and how can you get them?
9. How viable is this path ? Will this path bring the required results? How sure are you about this?
10. What are the skills and strength's that you require in order to attain this expectation?
11. Do you ave these strengths and skills? Is the institution helping you in developing those?
12. Have you ever assessed your strengths, interests and skills?
13. Have you tried in improving these and channelizing towards realizing your expectations?
14. What is the indicator to evaluate your progress in realizing this expectation
15. Is better grades an indicator of nearing this expectation?
16. What are your parent's expectations for you? What is your opinion about that?
17. How has your parent's expectations affected you and what have you done about that/ going to
do about that?
18. What are the required changes in educational system that will help in fulfilling your

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expectations?

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