Systematic Review of Social Inequality and Educational Access in Nepali Context

Abstract

Education is a constitutional right. There is much research about social inequality as well as educational access but the synthesis that defines the locus in which both these parameters come together is not much discovered. The purpose of this study endure is to investigate scholarly articles published after 2014 so that factors influencing contemporary Nepal for social inequality and educational access are identified. The method this study employs is PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis) framework, the study has systematically retrieved, screened, rescreened, and developed eligibility criteria for the document found in Google Scholar and ultimately downsized to seven scholarly stronger peer reviewed journal articles that aligns with research method and questions. This review systematically answered what indicators are used to measure social inequality and education access? The result of the study finds thirteen major indicators as Socio-economic class, caste/ethnicity, gender, parental education, geographic location, digital access and technological skills, language proficiency, student support system, domestic responsibilities, religion, child nutrition, political capital, and disability and its implications on education access. This study concludes that these indicators are correlated, interrelated and collectively produce results for education access and these are embedded in structures of society and lived human experiences. This study brings insights about disparities to help empirical foundations for policy makers and urges to move further with stronger commitment and implementation for transformative changes of lived experiences of Nepalese students.