Urban Slums: Stepping-Stone for Some and Traps (or Shields) for Others
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
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A study in Brazil found that city slums can serve as stepping-stones for low-educated households, offering better public schools than rural areas, but poor school quality remains a key driver of slum formation, according to Luciene Pereira, Assistant Professor of Economics at Sao Paulo School of Economics.
In Thailand, parents face significant expenses, including 500 THB for a single uniform set and 30K THB annual school costs, leading families to turn to pawn shops, with some pawn shops offering low interest rate promotions, as reported by ASEAN Now and commented on by Reddit users Mysterious_Bee8811 and Token_Thai_person.
The lack of free public education in many countries, including Thailand, where tuition is free but uniforms and books are not, raises concerns about education accessibility, with charities like the one Yves Smith donates to helping families in slums, and some success stories, such as a medical technician who got her family out of the slums, highlighting the need for targeted education and urban policies.
