Razin Dissertation.docx

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 1|Page

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 4|Page

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 socioeconomic 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

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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 povertystricken backgrounds were able to make a significant difference with the limited amount of careful 8|Page

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 lowincome 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 socioeconomic 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 uppermiddle-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 openended questions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents and students as

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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 16 | P a g e

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-middleclass 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. 22 | P a g e

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 23 | P a g e

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

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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

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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?

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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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