Emotional Intelligence and Educational Interest of Higher Secondary School Students in Aizawl: An Exploratory Analytic Study

Abstract

Problem Statement: Teachers, counsellors, and administrators in the field of education will benefit from the study by learning more about the preferences and aversions of different choice of subjects and how student’s emotional intelligence level drives their future goals. This will enable them to better understand the students and their issues. Understanding that not all occupations are suited for men is crucial. An individual may make themselves a misfit for their chosen field of work if they choose a career path they have never considered or are not interested in. However, a person must exhibit a suitably emotional and mature conduct in order to be considered educationally and vocationally suitable.

Purpose of Study: The research aims to: i) identify the level of emotional intelligence of the higher secondary school students of Aizawl district ii)To differentiate between the emotional intelligence of higher secondary school students of different streams iii) To differentiate between the educational interests of male and female students of higher secondary schools in Aizawl. iv) To differentiate between the educational interests of male and female students of different streams and to examine the relationship between the two independent variables, viz. emotional intelligence and educational interest of higher secondary school students.

Research Methods: In a correlation study, a sample of 900 higher secondary school students in Aizawl district of  Mizoram was selected using the opportunity or stratified random sampling and were tested with Emotional Intelligence Scale developed by the investigators and Educational Interest Record developed by Kulshrestha (1996).

Findings: Results indicated that the Mizo boys and girls of the higher secondary school students have an average level of Emotional Intelligence and Mizo boys and girls of the higher secondary school students of different streams viz. Arts, Science and Commerce show significant difference at 0.01 level in their emotional intelligence where arts stream have the lowest emotional intelligence level among the three streams. The interest level in all the educational areas of the Mizo boys and girls of the higher secondary school students of Aizawl district was of generally average level. With regard to educational interest among higher secondary school students subject areas like home science and technology shows significant difference between boys and girls where girls are having higher interest in home science than boys and also boys shows higher interest level in technology as compared to the boys and there exists no significant difference among the three streams in their educational interest level.