Crossing Boundaries Gender, Caste and Schooling in Rural Pakistan
Abstract
An
examination of the social barriers such as female seclusion and caste
stigma present within rural Pakistan and designing policies that can
reduce inequalities.
The
paper explores the social barriers faced by school age children in
rural Pakistan namely female seclusion due to cultural and religious
beliefs and caste affiliation. Regression analysis is applied on data
generated from Pakistan Rural Household Survey (PRHS-II 2004-2005)
and school census undertaken in villages of Sind and Punjab. The
study reveals that establishment of school within the settlement
boundary positively impacts enrollment rate for high caste girls
whereas low caste girls appear to be indifferent to the existence of
a school within settlement boundaries. Existence of a caste
concordant school within settlement boundaries positively impacts the
school enrollment rate for low caste boys and low caste girls and
this indicates that caste based stigma is an important barrier
towards education of poor. In light of the results, the authors
suggest that a school must be established in every low class
settlement area that is currently deprived of this basic facility.
Analysis reveals that such a policy would double the aggregate
enrollment rates at one-sixth of the cost as opposed to a policy of
providing a girl’s school in every settlement that is presently
lacking one. Supply side interventions can successfully reduce the
social stigma of caste and create equalities in the provision of
education amongst the masses.
Publishing Year: 2011
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