Learning is top priority, but teaching not preferred career

Everybody wants his/her child to get the best education but only 6 per cent would like their children to choose teaching as a profession, and even less (just 3 per cent) would prefer their child to be a lecturer or professor, a survey conducted by Aviva Life Insurance Company suggests.

Parents did not give any preference to inculcate “good values” in their wards in cities such as Lucknow, Hyderabad and Kochi. Delhi and Ahmedabad fared better, with 1 per cent parents each still wanting their child to inculcate good values. In Hyderabad and Kochi, according to the study, parents were not concerned about the grades their children get either.

The survey, “Aviva's Education Insights”, was conducted recently by IMRB India with face-to-face interviews of 2,402 people across 11 cities in India, depicting the concerns and aspirations of young parents regarding their child's education, taking into account their children in the age group of 0-14 years.

Concerns

The study also took into account annual household income of up to Rs 1.50 lakh and focused on the parents' concerns about the expenses incurred on and aspirations regarding their child's education, Mr Munish Sharda, Director, said.

According to the survey, while 81 per cent parents are more concerned about their child's education, 57 per cent were anxious about work or career, 56 per cent on health and medical care, and 31 per cent on good lifestyle for the child.

Also, 72 per cent of parents saved for their children's future, investing in protection products and 45 per cent on saving for retirement. On an average, 39 per cent parents felt that education inculcates values while only 5 per cent felt that it improved knowledge.

Interestingly, marriage of children is the lowest of the parents' concerns at 24 per cent – in the western region, it scores as low as 8 per cent. In Ahmedabad, 96 per cent parents admitted their ignorance about the future cost of education.

Career preferences

While most parents are keen on traditional professions for their children – engineers (25 per cent) and doctors (20 per cent) – around 24 per cent believed in allowing the child to decide. While one out of 10 parents nationally wanted to send their children abroad (mostly to the US) for higher studies, in Ahmedabad one in every three parents had this wish, the highest in the country.

Thirty per cent parents are concerned more about the educational expenses, while only 15 per cent are worried about their performance and 12 per cent about the marks gained by the child.

Fifty-seven per cent parents want to send their children to play school which increases their education expenses. In non-metros, the figure is even higher at 71 per cent, the survey said.

Cost of extra coaching is the next biggest expense for parents after school tuition fees – 57 per cent parents get additional coaching to supplement studies at school.

About 50 per cent parents believed that insurance is the most effective tool to cushion the child's education cost, out of which 13 per cent save through the child insurance plans. However, 81 per cent admitted their ignorance about how much higher education would cost in the future.

Parents, on an average, saved Rs 26,000 a year, which amounts to merely Rs 4.67 lakh over 18 years, showing how parents are grossly under-saving for future education.

Sixty-one per cent of the parents surveyed start saving for their child's education upon his/her birth, the survey added.

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