INTRODUCTION

A person should be able to support himself, but more importantly, they should be able to contribute to society as an honest and committed citizen. This is the ultimate goal of education. Each year, we produce a large number of college grads who lack the specialised knowledge necessary to support themselves financially. The classes we took in the past have no relevance to our lives now, yet we are still following them. This is because vocational training is undervalued in our society. The failure of our educated youth to accomplish is a direct outcome of the skill gap between the demand for and supply of qualified workers. We need to shift our perspective if we want to make a difference in this circumstance. We Indians are so focused on getting our bachelor's degrees that we look down on those who pursue vocational training. As a consequence, there is a severe scarcity of skilled labourers like plumbers, electricians, and other similar professions, and a large number of recent college grads are out of job. The goal of the educational system should be to provide students with a solid foundation in knowledge and the skills they need to succeed in the real world once they graduate. After finishing their formal education, young people should be able to immediately begin contributing to the process of nation building. "Vocational education is essential for providing manpower for economic growth," states a government strategy paper (1985) on education difficulties. The production function, the employment process, and the educational procedures are all connected via it.

A person's choices for various occupations are a good indicator of their vocational interest, which tends to remain consistent throughout adulthood. The process of discovering one's life's calling is mostly a developmental activity that takes place during adolescence. Considered to be a significant influence in determining one's professional choice include interest, aptitude, personality traits, familial background, social skills, and vocational requirements. The pupils' occupational interests are impacted by several environmental influences. A person's choices for various occupations are a good indicator of their vocational interest, which tends to remain consistent throughout adulthood. The process of discovering one's life's calling is mostly a developmental activity that takes place during adolescence. Considered to be a significant influence in determining one's professional choice include interest, aptitude, personality traits, familial background, social skills, and vocational requirements. The pupils' occupational interests are impacted by several environmental influences.

Vocational interest is characterised by a person's choices across a variety of occupations and tends to remain consistent throughout adulthood. As a general rule, adolescence is the time when people work on developing their vocational interests. Many people believe that a person's interests, aptitudes, personality traits, familial history, social skills, and professional requirements have a significant role in deciding which career path they choose. A student's interest in a certain career path might be shaped by their immediate surroundings. Beginning with the kid's enrollment in school and continuing long after the youngster has made a good decision, vocational assistance should be given. This is why it's crucial to provide kids with a wide range of advice activities and events where they may learn about themselves and the careers that interest them. When kids are in secondary school, it's an excellent moment to start pushing them to try new things. Students who think critically about their educational and occupational choices are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs after graduation. As a result, schools and jobs should cater to kids' passions. The purpose of education is to help students reach their objectives in life, succeed, be content, and, ultimately, have a productive life. Education is useless without activity, and occupation is useless without education. No matter the cost, a mechanism must be put in place to safeguard human resources by early detection, encouragement, and the provision of chances for their advancement.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Julian M Etzel ET.AL (2021) This research looks at VET students' interest profiles and how they evolve over time, specifically looking at how their interests align with career paths. First, we looked at how stable vocational interest profiles are. Second, we tested whether occupational socialisation effects, which show up as increases in person-environment (P-E) congruence, really exist. Third, we asked whether changes in P-E congruence are psychologically relevant because they affect trainees' attitudes towards their VET course. Our data set came from a three-wave longitudinal survey of 2,611 students enrolled in five separate vocational and technical (VET) programmes throughout Germany. We used meta-analytical aggregation approaches to look for variations in trainees' satisfaction with vocational education and training (VET) and how those differences relate to things like intraindividual interest stability and P-E congruence. Throughout VET, interest profiles were rather consistent, on average. Interest stability, however, varied significantly between individuals and groups. There is less evidence for the expected socialisation benefits, despite a small improvement in average P-E congruence in both groups. However, trainees' happiness with their VET course and any modifications in it were associated with variations in P-E congruence across individuals and with changes in P-E congruence over time.

Raj Kumar (2017) One of the most common ways to describe, compare, and match people and places is based on their level of vocational interest, which is also one of the most persistent and interesting aspects of individual diversity. The researcher has made an effort to understand and recognise the career preferences of secondary school pupils via this study. Any inclination towards potential career paths and aspirations is known as a vocational interest. Environmental factors, as well as the student's own knowledge, attitudes, and values, as well as their physical attributes (location), determine the student's vocational interest. When it comes to describing, comparing, and matching people and places, vocational interests stand out as the most popular and persistent area of individual differences. The purpose of the research was to identify the career paths that secondary school pupils were considering. Twelve secondary schools in the Kangra area of Himachal Pradesh were randomly selected to provide a sample of two hundred pupils. Urban secondary school pupils showed a little higher interest in the literary, outdoor, executive, and scientific disciplines compared to their rural counterparts, but this interest was only marginally higher overall. Secondary school pupils in rural areas showed a little greater enthusiasm than their urban counterparts in the mechanical, commercial, and agricultural subjects.

Hatkar Balaji et.al (2023) The purpose of this research was to examine the level of career awareness among secondary school students from indigenous and non-indigenous communities. Through the use of stratified random selection, 600 students from junior colleges in the Khammam area were chosen. In order to gather data, Sarita Anand (2018) used a career awareness scale. Percentage, Mean, Standard Deviation, and the 't' test were the statistical tools used to analyse the data. Different degrees of career awareness were found to be considerably different between tribal and non-tribal high school students. In terms of career awareness, most people in both categories were around average. When compared to their indigenous peers, non-tribal students tend to be more career-minded. In terms of professional choice making, overall career knowledge, and awareness of job options, non-tribal females in upper secondary education outperform tribal girls in these areas.

Satu Niittylahti et.al (2021) The purpose of this research is to examine the development of student participation as it pertains to vocational education and training. Twelve students were interviewed annually over the course of three years for qualitative longitudinal research. Three distinct types of student involvement were discovered using a qualitative content analysis. Student engagement is bolstered by a genuine interest in and passion for the material, robust peer connections, and effective study habits, according to the research. The survey did discover, however, that not all teenagers are really enthusiastic about their major. They wished their profession would become more fascinating since there was nothing else to study. Connectedness and students' emotional experiences with education also significantly impact their perceptions of their educational journey as a whole, according to the findings.

Olivia P. Almario (2021) Future preparation is crucial in today's fast-paced culture. Regarding this, it has long been recognised that career planning is an important component in attaining financial success and maintaining a stable career. Because of the proliferation of digital resources, students now face an even more daunting task when deciding on a future occupation. The primary goal of the research was to identify the elements that have a substantial impact on senior high school students' judgements about their future occupations. In order to identify the factors that influence senior high school students' career choice decisions, we asked them to fill out two profiles: one for themselves, with questions about their personal and academic abilities, and another for their socio-economic profile, which includes questions about their family, friends, and community.

METHOD

The study data was generated by a quantitative approach of inquiry that made use of a survey.

Research Instrument

Students' occupational interests were evaluated using the Indian Scale for occupational Interests, which was created by Al Ghorani, Dodeen, Darwish, and Farghali (2011). There are eleven subscales that make up the Indian Scale for Vocational Interests: Interests in literature (13 items), the great outdoors (15 items), law enforcement (14 items), business (14 items), science (16 items), mechanics (15 items), the arts (16 items), persuasion (11 items), social services (15 items), clerical (14 items), and electronics (15 items). All of the subscales except for the Police/Military one were taken from the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS) or the Kuder Survey (Bennett, 2012). According to Miller (2010), the KOIS was chosen because of the inventory's relationship to Holland's RIASEC. There are 159 total elements or activities on the scale, organised into 53 groups of 3. The student thinks about his or her favourite pastime and the one that he or she dislikes the most. With alpha values for subscales ranging from 0.62 to 0.83 for the male students' sample and from 0.65 to 0.86 for the female students' sample, the reliability of the scale was determined to be high. Eight doctoral-level psychologists assessed the Indian Scale for Vocational Interests for face validity. On every issue, they were in agreement, with a level of agreement ranging from 96% to 100%. To find the internal consistency, which is a measure of the scale's validity, we looked at the correlation between each item and the overall score for each subscale. This allowed us to assess the internal validity of the test. At a significance level of p<001, all associations were indicated as positive.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Vocational Interest of the Respondents

Table 1 overall reveals that, according to the unsegregated descriptive data, the respondents' greatest mean score (M=33.31) was produced by job-related activities along the social service sub-scale of the ESVI. After that came work-related pursuits in the scientific field (M=32.92). different subscales: artistic (M=32.49), electronic (M=30.61), outdoor (M=29.87), military/police (M=29.00), and computational/commercial (M=27.57).

Tasks associated with literary (M=25.93), persuading (M=20.37), and clerical (M=26.64) occupations were the least desired.

Table 1: Vocational Preferences of the Respondents


Based on the distribution of the mean scores, it is clear that the respondents have a wide range of vocational interests. Helping others, understanding nature and finding solutions, being creative and productive, working with electronics, outdoor work, and promoting public order and security are some of the more popular choices. Tasks often associated with literary, secretarial, and persuasive occupations are the ones that respondents like least.

DIFFERENCE IN VOCATIONAL INTEREST ACCORDING TO GRADE LEVEL

In terms of the scientific (M=33.56), creative (M=33.54), and social service (M=33.27) subscales of the ESVI, students in ninth grade seem to have a stronger preference for activities indicative of occupations compared to those in twelfth grade. Next, we have the preferences for job-related activities in the following subscales: computational/commercial (M=27.01), mechanical (M=27.19), outdoor (M=29.03), police/military (M=28.63), and electronic (M=31.78). Activities characteristic of clerical (M=26.95), literary (M=25.84), and persuading (M=20.21) employment are among the choices that yielded lower averages.

According to the ESVI's social service (M=33.44), scientific (M=32.39), and creative (M=32.23) subscales, job-related activities were the most preferred occupational choices among 12th graders. Following this, there are preference subscales for activities associated with occupations in the following fields: computing/commercial (M=28.04), police/military (M=28.93), mechanical (M=29.07), and outdoor (M=30.27). Students' lower mean scores on the preference for job-related activities characteristic of the literary (M=26.33), persuasive (M=20.58), and clerical (M=26.58) subscales were indicative of this.

It is worth mentioning that students in grades 9 and 12 share a preference for activities often associated with scientific, artistic, and social service jobs, while they have a lower preference for activities typically associated with clerical, literary, and persuasive jobs, according to the ESVI. For the purpose of comparing the two groups' means, we used a two-tailed independent t-test for students in grades 9 and 12. Thus, with the exception of the literary, police/military, persuasive, social service, and clerical subscales, all ESVI measures revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups. Refer to table 2.

Table 2: T-test Results of Comparisons between Grade 9 and Grade 12 Students on Emirates Scale for Vocational Interests (ESVI)


The findings show that there was no variation in the interest in typical occupational activities across grade levels among the respondents on the ESVI's literary, police/military, persuasive, social service, and clerical subscales. However, on the ESVI's electronic, creative, mechanical, scientific, computational/commercial, and outdoor subscales, the respondent's grade level served as a differentiating factor for desired job-related activities.

A. Levels Of Vocational Interest Of C.B.S.E. Students In Different Areas. This study aimed to analyse data from the Central Board of Secondary Education and the Uttar Pradesh Board of High School and Intermediate Education to determine the vocational interest levels of students in the following areas: Literary (L), Scientific (Sc), Executive (E), Commercial (C), Constructive (Co), Artistic (A), Agriculture (Ag), Persuasive (P), Social (So), and Household (H).


Figure 1: Percentage of students of CBSE showing different levels of vocational interest in different areas (N= 100).

Figure 1 displays the proportion of C.B.S.E. students who exhibit high, medium, or low interest in several interest categories, including literary, scientific, executive, commercial, constructive, artistic, agricultural, social, and household. From 45 to 65 percent of pupils exhibit average interest in all of the occupational interest categories. With 25%, 25%, 16%, and 13% of the total interest, the scientific, executive, literary, and commercial domains were the most popular. Students' interest in agricultural and household-related fields was below average, at 3% and 4%, respectively. Students from CBSE exhibited below-average and low interest in agriculture as a career, with maximum percentages of 24% and 25% respectively. Also, there isn't much enthusiasm in the persuasive(25%), social (27%), and domestic (25%).

Comparison Of Vocational Interests Of Students On The Basis Of Gender.

Table 3: Comparison of Vocational Interests of Secondary Students on the basis of Gender. (N= 200)



Figure 2: Comparison of Vocational Interest of secondary school students on the basis of gender (Mean values) N= 200

You can see the t-values of the different interest areas when you compare students' occupational interests based on gender. At the 0.01% level of significance, the t-value for literary field of occupational interest is 0.768; the mean values for male students are 9.61 and for female students are 9.76. With a mean of 10.3 for male students and 9.19 for female students, the t-value for scientific field of occupational interest is 0.087, which is not statistically significant at the 0.01 level. With a mean of 10.15 for male students and 8.49 for female students, the t-value for executive area of occupational interest is 0.014, which is not statistically significant at the 0.01 level. At the 0.01 level of significance, the t-value of 0.016 for the construct of constructive area of occupational interest is not statistically significant; the mean values for male students are 9.23 and for female students they are 7.83. At the 0.01% level of significance, the t-value for the commercial sector of occupational interest is 0.039, whereas the mean values for male students are 7.48 and 6.79, respectively. With a mean of 8.84 for male students and 7.48 for female students, the t-value for artistic area of occupational interest is 0.037, which is not statistically significant at the 0.01 level. There is no statistically significant relationship between the agricultural area of occupational interest and the t-value of 0.065 at the 0.01 level; the mean values for male students are 7.55 and 6.63, respectively. The mean scores for male students were 8.04 and for female students they were 6.73, with a t-value of 0.047 for the persuasive area of occupational interest being non-significant at the 0.01 level. At the 0.01 level of significance, the t-value for social area of occupational interest is 0.003, which is not statistically significant. Female students had a mean value of 6.07 and male pupils 8.20. Male students had mean values of 7.55 and female students of 6.07 for home area of occupational interest, with a t-value of 0.145 being non-significant at the 0.01 level.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study show that the ESVI is a useful instrument for identifying the kind of work that Indian high school students like completing most, as measured by the ESVI subscales. In a culture that is both traditional and contemporary, this study does not entirely back or refute the results in the literature. However, it does argue that the fact that students in this society choose various hobbies based on their grades suggests a broader environmental effect. There is no statistically significant difference (P>0.01) in the occupational interest of students according to gender or C.B.S.E. board for any of the subject areas examined. C.B.S.E. secondary school students' occupational interest patterns are not significantly different from those of their non-student counterparts, hence we accept the null hypothesis. The rise of mass communication may be to blame, since it provides pupils with more opportunities to learn about a wide range of occupations. Additionally, each gender has an equal chance of success. Students' degrees of occupational interest in several fields reveal that they are mostly interested in science, leadership, and literature, but they are not very enthusiastic about agriculture, persuasion, social work, or domestic work. Vocational advice and planning are necessary to foster a balanced interest among students in various occupations, which is particularly concerning in an agricultural nation like India.