The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) survey reveals that in 2023, 30.5 per cent boys aged between 14-18 in Kohima rural want to join the army in the future. Overall, 13.8 per cent of boys in India aspire to be in the army.

In Kohima, the ASER 2023 analysis is based on data from 590 youth in 508 households in 60 villages, collected by volunteers from Department of Education and Department of Teacher Education, Nagaland University, Meriema Campus and also from Kohima Science College, Jotsoma.

ASER 2023 stated: “Within the range of possible income-generating work options, boys’ choices and the reasoning behind them reflected their own understanding of what these jobs would entail and the benefits they would bring. Thus, joining the army was spoken about as a means of earning money, but also of protecting and serving the country. It was also seen as a means of gaining respect, both for themselves as well as for their family, that does not rely on academic success.”

Among the girls in Kohima in the same age bracket of 14-18, 4.4 per cent wished to join the army, ASER 2023 reveals. A whopping 23.4 per cent girls aspire to become teachers and 15.3 per cent want to be doctors, compared to the mere 3.6 per cent boys who wish to pursue a career in medicine.

Astonishingly, none of the boys surveyed choose to become IAS officers and only 1.7 per cent wants to hold any kind of government jobs. For the girls, 0.5 aspired to become a bureaucrat while 2.0 per cent wants government jobs.

The ASER 2023 survey also shows that 18.6 percent boys and 27.4 per cent girls between 14 and 18 have not yet decided the paths to follow in future.