Addressing Educational Inequities and Marginalization in Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis of Policy and Practice

Addressing Educational Inequities and Marginalization in Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis of Policy and Practice | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Addressing Educational Inequities and Marginalization in Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis of Policy and Practice Maryam Arif, Soban Saeed This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8292426/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study examines Pakistan’s marginalized local communities, such as the Hazara community, tribal women and the endangered Sindhi community suffering from floods. The study highlights how socio-political, economic and environmental factors exacerbate their exclusion. Through both qualitative and quantitative analysis of Pakistan’s social and living standards measurements (PSLM) data using machine learning techniques, findings reveal that the Hazara community faces religious violence and state neglect, tribal women face gender discrimination and Sindhi flood survivors endure resource crisis management from the government. The quantitative analysis uses 120 socioeconomic indicators from four provinces of Pakistan (Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) along with Pakistan’s national aggregate and applies Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which reveals distinct variance patterns. Through clustering, this study identifies three key groups: infrastructure access, sanitation/governance and water access. The regression analysis suggests that governance reforms cannot resolve systemic discrimination. This paper offers an insight into a scalable methodology combining dimensionality reduction and unsupervised learning that can be useful to social policy researchers. It emphasises the need for a comprehensive approach to address socio-economic and governance challenges in marginalized communities. Educational Philosophy and Theory Socio-Political Economic & Environmental Marginalization Educational Exclusion Governance Failures Principal Component Analysis K Mean Clustering Machine Learning Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8292426","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":556119964,"identity":"8d547e0a-eaa8-47a3-be30-6ad6976e04cb","order_by":0,"name":"Maryam Arif","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3047-3012","institution":"∗Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Pakistan","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Maryam","middleName":"","lastName":"Arif","suffix":""},{"id":556119965,"identity":"b0750d41-c906-4e3f-87c7-d7a11341297d","order_by":1,"name":"Soban Saeed","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7279-9714","institution":"National University of Sciences \u0026 Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Soban","middleName":"","lastName":"Saeed","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-06 06:37:55","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8292426/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8292426/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":97896842,"identity":"b950281c-33ef-4d5e-8ea0-a619069f9051","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-10 15:37:06","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1488586,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AddressingEducationalInequitiesandMarginalizationinPakistanAComparativeAnalysisofPolicyandPractice2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8292426/v1_covered_8bbc8f8d-2209-4b36-8a82-9fce583dd2fe.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eAddressing Educational Inequities and Marginalization in Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis of Policy and Practice\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"COMSATS University Islamabad","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Socio-Political, Economic \u0026 Environmental Marginalization, Educational Exclusion, Governance Failures, Principal Component Analysis, K Mean Clustering, Machine Learning","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8292426/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8292426/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study examines Pakistan’s marginalized local communities, such as the Hazara community, tribal women and the endangered Sindhi community suffering from floods. 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