This paper studies how the school closures in Kenya as a result of the corona pandemic have affected students in Kenya depending on different socio-economic classes. In addition, the study examines how access to the internet, the gender of the student, access to education during the school closures and location of residence affected the return to school after the school closures in Kenya. In order to obtain results, the work is based on data from Covid-19 Rapid Response Phone survey made by The World Bank in collaboration with the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and the University of California. Furthermore, have pooled cross section regressions and cross section regressions been used. In addition, fixed effects for households have been included to measure how the children are affected differently excluding the social circumstances. The results that this paper presents are that factors influencing the returning rate in Kenya during the school closure were internet access, gender, availability of distance learning and place of residence. Surprisingly, girls were more likely to return to school, contrary to gender norms. Initially, access to education and the internet correlated positively with not returning to school, but later it had a negative impact, which may indicate that students with access to this delayed their return. In conclusion, socio-economic factors and access to the internet and distance learning played a significant role in influencing dropout rates in Kenya.

In this thesis, socio-spatial processes regarding the distribution of transport infrastructures are investigated and the ways in which inequalities occur as a result of these processes are discussed. The transport system of Istanbul and particularly, the Istanbul Metro, the first modern subway of the city, has been the focus of this research. In order to understand inequalities in transport, social and spatial justice theories have been employed. Discussions have been extended in order to include different approaches to the issues of transport inequality from various disciplines such as geography, sociology and urban planning. In this sense, this study is multi-disciplinary. Debates on land rent theory, space and power, gendered mobilities, social exclusion and the right to the city are among the many concerns that formed the main arguments of this research. In this thesis, transport is taken as a fixed, an immobile commodity that produces mobile and dynamic commodities such as mobilities and flows. Through such interaction socio-spatial processes are produced which may or may not consist of inequalities. Issues related to inequalities are deconstructed in the literature review in order to help reconstruct a theory of uneven socio-spatial development as a result of the distribution of transport infrastructure investments. Discussions on theory are further examined through four empirical chapters each of which investigates different issues related to transport inequalities. A mixed-method approach has been used in order to fully explore the complexity of the subject and integrate different epistemological positions. Through four empirical chapters, socio-spatial inequalities are discussed with regard to daily mobility levels of different socio-economic groups in Istanbul and the Istanbul Metro as well as in-direct economic impacts of the Metro and the socio-political processes it generates. The findings support some of the previous research on social inequalities based on transport, especially on how gender, education and employment become important determinants of travel time, trip frequency, trip purposes and the use of different transport modes. Yet, the thesis presents unexpected results on the impacts of the Istanbul Metro. On the one hand, the Istanbul Metro can be regarded as a just infrastructure as it accommodates users from every socio-economic background. On the other hand, it can be inequitable as it is likely to facilitate the accumulation of capital in certain areas, and circulation of producers and consumers of this capital within the same spatial unit, the Metro itself. This thesis proposes that horizontal and vertical socio-spatial inequalities exist both individually and together in various contexts in Istanbul. These inequalities are based on the spatial distribution of transport infrastructure investments, power relationships between different socio-economic groups, the dominance of politically powerful groups and the historical development of the urban space. Together this thesis is in an attempt to establish a comprehensive narrative of the discourses of inequalities in transport planning and policy and makes suggestions on the ways to reduce such inequalities. Moreover, this thesis is an original contribution to the literature as it links hitherto unconnected strands of theory in transport geography and social and spatial justice literatures.

The main purpose of this C-essay is to answer the question: What have been the consequences and effects of the merit point system on language studies and the parties concerned (teachers, students and principals) during the school year of 2010/11? The merit point system is the result of a political decision and was implicated for the first time in the Swedish upper secondary school during the school year 2010/2011. Being a completely new phenomenon it is of great interest and importance to study its effects. The study in this essay also aims to verify, falsify or nullify two hypotheses very often referred to in the political discussions regarding the merit point system: The merit point system will replace affection and interest as main reasons for language studies in upper secondary school and cause a rectification amongst the students choices of additional courses. The merit point system will have a segregating effect upon society and make it harder for people to rise in society through education in the future. A verification of these hypotheses would imply the appearance of an increased rectification amongst students as well as an orientation towards an in the future more segregated society. The empiric material has been collected and examined with qualitative as well as quantitative methods (questionnaires and interviews) and belongs epistemologically to the phenomenological and hermeneutical traditions.

The purpose of this study was to increase knowledge about how socio-economic conditions in different groups of students can affect students' perceptions of the subject of social studies. This was done by accounting for, analysing and discussing differences and similarities in perceptions of the subject of social studies between students in vocational and in tertiary preparatory programsin upper secondary school in Sweden. The data for this qualitative study was collected through focus group interviews and was thereafter thematically analysed. The results show that all students, regardless of program, find social studies important both for themselves and for the society as a whole. However, preferences regarding teaching methods vary between programs. Vocational programs tend to prefer shorter individual writing assignments while tertiary preparatory programs like to work both individually and in groups as well as both orally and in writing. There are also differences in how the programs view their use for social studies in the future. The vocational programs consider themself to have the most use for knowledge regarding economy while the tertiary preparatory programs believe they will have most use forwhat they have learned concerning the subject of individuals and identity. These differences can be explained by the student´s different capacities and different access to cultural and language capital as well as the real functions of the school system and cultural reproductionwhich are all due to socio-economic differences that exist between the students in vocationalprograms and the students in tertiary preparatory programs.