Career Aspirations, Motivations, and Perceived Barriers of Female Students in Rajshahi Division

Abstract

Girls at the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) level in Bangladesh often express strong ambitions for higher education and professional careers. However, these aspirations are frequently constrained by financial pressures, mobility restrictions, gendered expectations about “appropriate” behavior, and uneven access to academic guidance. In Rajshahi Division, where rural-urban contrasts and deeply rooted cultural norms shape everyday life, these constraints are especially pronounced. Despite the importance of this stage in shaping future possibilities, relatively few studies have examined how girls’ aspirations, motivations, and perceived barriers intersect across different academic groups. This paper seeks to address that gap by exploring how HSC girls in selected colleges understand their futures, what motivates them, and what they perceive as obstacles to achieving their goals. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional mixed-methods design, drawing on a multi-stage random sample of 396 students from Science, Humanities, and Business Studies groups across urban, semi-urban, and rural settings. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire consisting of six Likert-based subscales alongside open-ended items, complemented by twelve in-depth interviews. Quantitative responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and composite means, while qualitative insights were examined thematically. The findings indicate that students across all groups aspire to purposeful academic and professional futures, though the intensity of motivation varies. Persistent financial constraints, limited guidance opportunities, gendered expectations, and prevailing social norms repeatedly shaped the extent to which these aspirations could be realized. Overall, the study reveals a persistent aspiration-capability gap that continues to influence the educational pathways of HSC girl students.