The intersection of caste, social exclusion and educational opportunity in rural Punjab

The policies directed towards increasing access to education, often ignore how the political economy of local social structures can configure educational opportunity for the marginalized. This paper reports key findings of a qualitative, multiple-case study that explored caste-based social exclusion and educational opportunity in rural Punjab, Pakistan. Social exclusion was conceptualized within Sen's capability approach and analysed under multiple dimensions of social exclusion suggested by Whitley (2005), and Bourdieu's social critical theory. The data from seventy-two low and high caste parents, school heads and focus group interviews, reveal evidence of caste based social exclusion. This refracted into 'active' and 'passive' forms of institutional exclusion (Sen, 2000), across temporal and spatial planes. It also resulted in micro-level exclusionary processes within schools and the self deselection of the most stigmatized from education. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.