تحليل فضايي فقر آموزشي مقاطع ابتدايي در مناطق كلانشهري (مطالعه موردي: شهر اصفهان)

Primary education, as a cornerstone of social an‎d human development, plays a critical role in reducing inequalities an‎d promoting spatial equity. In the metropolitan city of Isfahan, due to population growth an‎d the spatial distribution of services, equitable access to primary schools an‎d adequate availability of teachers faces significant limitations. This study aimed to identify the spatial patterns of educational poverty in the primary education sector of Isfahan. The data used included the geographic locations of schools, the number of teachers, an‎d the student population across fifteen municipal districts. Geographic Information System (GIS) analyses were employed; student accessibility was calculated using buffer analyses with radii of 500 an‎d 1,000 meters, an‎d the student-to-teacher ratio was assessed as a human resources indicator, considering the optimal maximum of 26 students per teacher, disaggregated by gender an‎d district. The results indicated that the average coverage within a 500-meter radius was 60.19% for boys’ schools an‎d 63.21% for girls’ schools, increasing to 84.60% an‎d 84.97%, respectively, within a 1,000-meter radius. Within the 500-meter buffer, districts 2, 9, 11, 12, an‎d 15 for boys, an‎d districts 2, 12, 13, an‎d 15 for girls, exhibited coverage below 50%. Within the 1,000-meter buffer, four districts for boys (2, 6, 12, an‎d 15) an‎d three districts for girls (6, 12, an‎d 15) had coverage below 75%. The assessment of the student-to-teacher ratio revealed that in some districts, the number of students per teacher exceeded the optimal limit of 26, creating additional pressure on educational quality; for example, districts 9 an‎d 14 experienced the most severe teacher shortages, whereas districts 1, 3, 5, an‎d 8, with surplus teachers, were within optimal conditions. Overall, the findings demonstrated that educational poverty in Isfahan exhibits a scattered an‎d district-specific pattern. Districts 1, 3, 5, an‎d 8 were free from educational poverty, district 6 showed poverty only in terms of accessibility, districts 7, 10, 13, an‎d 14 showed poverty in human resources, an‎d districts 2, 4, 9, 11, 12, an‎d 15 experienced poverty in both accessibility an‎d teacher availability. These results suggest that urban planning policies must focus on equitable school location an‎d balanced teacher distribution to reduce educational poverty effectively.

5

161261