Post-COVID insights: Exploring educational aspirations of secondary school students

The research examined the educational aspirations of secondary school students, offering a thorough insight into the factors that impact these aspirations. The study is based on gender, subject streams, residential background, and institution type. The research study included 240 Lucknow students from five government and five private schools. For data collection, the ‘Level of Educational Aspiration Test (LEAT-K)’ was used, developed by Dr Yashmin Ghani Khan and concentrates on describing and analysing educational aspirations. The hypotheses were rigorously examined with the t-test. The result revealed no notable differences in aspirations based on gender or the type of institution; there were remarkable differences in ambitions depending on academic disciplines and residential origins. For instance, pupils pursuing science disciplines generally had higher aspirations than arts or commerce. Similarly, students residing in urban regions exhibited greater aspirations compared to their rural counterparts. These findings underscore the substantial impact of the choice of academic subjects and the type of home backdrop on students educational aspirations. Importantly, they align with previous studies, highlighting the influence of academic disciplines and living environments on educational ambitions while emphasising the relatively minor impact of gender and institutional category, thereby reinforcing the validity of our research.