The present study attempts to assess the socioeconomic status of the students joining the Vocational Higher Secondary stream of education after tenth standard in Kerala. Socio-economic status is thought to be an important factor determining the career path of an individual. Vocational education is generally viewed as a low profile option for many students in a number of countries including India. Owing to this and many other reasons vocational education is usually embraced by academically and socio-economically weaker strata of the society who do not want to pursue higher studies but want to generate income for their family immediately after schooling. The situation in Kerala, with its high achievements in the field of education and a different mind-set of students when it comes to pursuing higher studies, resulted in a high percentage of students going for higher studies. Vocational Higher Secondary stream of education is viewed as abridge course between tenth and higher studies by a large section of the students. This study investigates whether the students pursuing VHSE in Kerala belong to the lower socio-economic strata of the society. A hypothesis was formulated and tested for this purpose. The study also examines whether there existsany significant differences in the socio-economic statuses of the student enrolling vocational higher secondary education in Kerala with respect to gender, type of school, location of school and district. The study also assesses the career plans of the students from different socio-economic statuses post higher secondary stage. The sample consists of 936 VHSE students randomly selected from 39 VHSE schools distributed across three districts of Kerala belonging to the Engineering, Paramedical and Commerce streams. The socio-economic status scale developed by Agarwal et al. (2005) with suitable modifications is used to measure the Socio-Economic Statuses of the students in this study.

Keywords : Socio-Economic Status, Vocational Education, Vocational Higher Secondary Education.