Pattern analysis of substandard and inadequate distribution of educational resources in urban-rural areas of Abbottabad, Pakistan

Despite an extensive system of public schools, Abbottabad, Pakistan has a chronically low literacy rate. A factor contributing to these low literacy rates might be a spatial mismatch between public schools and dense settlements in fast-growing urban and semi-urban areas of this municipal region. To test this proposition, the locations of 153 public schools were collected using hand-held GPS devices to create a geo-database, and a road network was created from the open street map and Google imagery. Nearest neighbor, K-function, Spearman's Rho, and directional analyses were applied to this data to overcome limitations of sparse geo-spatial data. A point pattern analysis shows that more than 50% of secondary schools were clustered south of the city while most of the built-up area was in the north. Localizing Geo-spatial data, spatial restructuring, and reorganization of schools in the study area would support rational planning and enhance student access to school facilities.