Comparative Study of Schoolchildren Educational Expectations in Rural Russia and India

Project coordinator: Evgeny Kochkin

In 2009 SESL and BMCWS Mumbay social assistance centre conducted a survey to study educational expectations of 10-graders from 3 schools with various characteristics of small Indian town Rajgurunagar. The scholars had surveyed all the 3 schools in this town that differed in several factors.  At hte same time empirical data was collected in a rural district in Leningrad oblast in Russia. The researchers plan to identify and compare educational and professional expectations of schoolchildren in contemporary Russia and India. It is also important to trace dependence of these expectations from academic achievements, gender, social and economic capital and type of the school in different countries.

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Evgeny has presented a paper written in cooperation with professor Daniel Alexandrov. In this work they analyse educational choice of children in rural parts of India. In 2009 SESL and BMCWS Mumbay social assistance centre conducted a survey to study educational expectations of 10-graders from 3 schools with various characteristics of small Indian town Rajgurunagar. 

The researchers were interested in educational and professional expectations of contemporary children in rural India. They wanted to trace the dependence of these expectations on academic achievement, gender, socio-economic status of the family and on type of school. They found out that those children whose academic achievements are better have higher educational expectations than others, parental expectations also influence much on children's plans.

Private schools' students and those whose parents work in non-agricultiral sector also expect more educational-wise. Those children who study in schools for unpriveleged castes rarely plan to enter university. It is also interesting to mention that a gap between girls' and boys' educational expectations is evident in deprived castes only.