'The Apple Must Fall Far From the Tree'. A Case Study of an Educational School Intervention in Lyari: An Urban Slum in Pakistan.

Abstract: Partly attributed to the distinguishing effects of poverty on education and effects of education on poverty, the poverty and education nexus is complex. Since poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon deprivation in education, especially in urban slums, is not caused by one factor alone, but is rather stitched to various other related factors such as family structure, a high conflict neighbourhood and quality of school. This thesis aims to study the Kiran School system as a context sensitive educational intervention that is interacting with the urban social context of Lyari, a slum and an area infamous for gang violence in the city of Karachi in Pakistan, in an effort to adapt to and change the social environment in which it is being implemented. This is achieved by conducting qualitative semi-structured life history interviews of mothers, teachers and few members of the school staff who are all locals of the Lyari community for a thick intensive analysis using theoretical concepts of habitus, doxa, institutions, social capital, nepantla and agency and empowerment. As a result, this thesis argues that social relations and networks that disadvantaged people engage with and relate to in their daily lives and mobilize in times of crises reproduce inertiatic institutions. This inertia is perpetuated by: the family through patriarchy and intergenerational contract, the local schools by disseminating poor quality education and a violent/crime afflicted neighbourhood structured through patron-client relationships. Institutions come under stress only when a broker enters into this domain with an educational school intervention that challenges individuals to question taken for granted world views through bridging social capital that provides new forms of institutional fall back. This allows them to take greater control of their lives and has greater potential to transform existing institutions for social change amidst the urban social disadvantage.