Veronica Zhang

Education is often imagined as a ladder out of inherited circumstance. In Xinjiang, China, however, its rungs are unevenly placed, making upward movement far more uncertain for some students than for others. Xinjiang is vast, remote, and ethnically diverse. Many students, particularly those from Uyghur, Kazakh, and other minority communities, grow up in rural areas where schools are under-resourced and teachers are scarce. Long distances between villages and classrooms mean that access alone...

Across Pakistan, millions of girls dream of attending school, yet many never make it to the classroom. Despite improvements in enrollment over the past two decades, Pakistan still has one of the world’s highest numbers of out-of-school girls. In numerous parts of Pakistan, gender expectations place heavy limits on girls’ education. Schooling is often treated as optional for daughters but essential for sons. They are expected to contribute to domestic labor, caring for younger siblings and...

In Malaysia, most children enter school through the same gates, follow the same national curriculum, and sit for the same examinations. Yet the outcomes of this shared system diverge sharply. Behind the appearance of uniform standards lies an discriminatory education structure that produces patterns of advantage and exclusion that begin early and compound over time. Language is one of the earliest points where inequality takes hold. Instruction in public schools is conducted primarily in...