Analyzing club convergence in child schooling in Pakistan during 2004-2020

Abstract

The early education is fundamental for the child’s intellectual growth and development. Literature highlights spatial inequality in child schooling through the lens of spatial models, for instance, density, locality, and distance in developing countries. Given the need for research on geographic inequalities in child formal education in Pakistan, this study analyzes the club convergence of child schooling across districts. Two schooling indicators, overall secondary school enrolment and girl’s secondary school enrolment, are used. The analysis is based on convergence and the clustering technique proposed by Phillips and Sul (2007). The data for the study is obtained from Pakistan Social and Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) covering the period from 2004 to 2020. Overall, findings of the study reject convergence to a single equilibrium state regarding secondary school enrolment. The results highlight four convergence clubs for overall secondary school. Whereas girl’s secondary school enrolment findings show four convergence clubs and one diverging group. The findings show that there is not a uniform secondary school enrolment across all districts and thus policies need to be designed to lessen these spatial disparities in child schooling.