Islamabad: Despite growing competition in medical education and an increasingly crowded healthcare job market, medicine remains the most desired profession among Pakistani parents, with 25 percent wanting their children to become doctors, a nationwide survey has found.
The Gallup & Gilani Pakistan survey showed that medicine remained comfortably ahead of other traditional and emerging professions, with 13 percent of parents wanting their children to become teachers, 12 percent businesspersons and 11 percent preferring careers in the armed forces or police.
The preference for medicine was particularly pronounced among younger parents, rising to 37 percent among those below the age of 30. It was also higher among women, at 27 percent, and among parents educated below FA level, at 26 percent.
The findings are part of Gallup Pakistan’s ongoing series, “Understanding the School Landscape in Pakistan”, based on responses from a nationally representative sample of parents whose children are currently studying in schools.
Parents were asked what they would like their child to become when he or she grows up.
Medicine emerged as the single most popular choice at 25 percent, followed by teaching at 13 percent, business at 12 percent and the Army or police at 11 percent.
Engineering, once considered alongside medicine among the most coveted professions for Pakistani children, was preferred by only five percent of parents. Another five percent wanted their children to enter the religious field.
Only three percent wanted their children to become CSS or government officers, while just one percent identified information technology or computers as their preferred career for their children.
The low preference for IT and computer-related careers is particularly striking at a time when digital technologies, artificial intelligence, software development and online work are rapidly changing employment opportunities in Pakistan and internationally.
Seven percent of parents named other professions, while a sizeable 17 percent said they did not know what they wanted their children to become. Another one percent gave no response.
The survey indicates that traditional professions continue to dominate parental expectations despite significant changes in Pakistan’s education and employment landscape.
Gallup & Gilani Pakistan said aspirations also differed according to parents’ age, gender, education and location, with younger parents displaying a much stronger preference for medicine.
Older parents, in comparison, showed relatively greater interest in business, public service and religious careers for their children.
The survey is the eighth release in Gallup Pakistan’s series examining the country’s school landscape and parental perceptions of education. Earlier findings in the series examined issues including perceptions of school costs and the quality of education.
The latest findings suggest that the longstanding social attraction of the medical profession remains firmly entrenched among Pakistani families, with becoming a doctor still the leading parental aspiration by a considerable margin.
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