Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan: A Look at the Data

42 Pages Posted: 16 Feb 2005

See all articles by Tahir Andrabi

Tahir Andrabi

Pomona College - Department of Economics

Jishnu Das

Georgetown University; Georgetown University

Asim Ijaz Khwaja

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS); Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies (CeRP); Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Tristan Zajonc

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)

Date Written: March 2005

Abstract

Bold assertions have been made in policy reports and popular articles on the high and increasing enrollment in Pakistani religious schools, commonly known as madrassas. Given the importance placed on the subject by policy makers in Pakistan and those internationally, it is troubling that none of the reports and articles reviewed based their analysis on publicly available data or established statistical methodologies. This paper uses published data sources and a census of schooling choice to show that existing estimates are inflated by an order of magnitude. Madrassas account for less than 1 percent of all enrollment in the country and there is no evidence of a dramatic increase in recent years. The educational landscape in Pakistan has changed substantially in the last decade, but this is due to an explosion of private schools, an important fact that has been left out of the debate on Pakistani education. Moreover, when we look at school choice, we find that no one explanation fits the data. While most existing theories of madrassa enrollment are based on household attributes (for instance, a preference for religious schooling or the household's access to other schooling options) the data show that among households with at least one child enrolled in a madrassa, 75 percent send their second (and/or third) child to a public or private school or both. Widely promoted theories simply do not explain this substantial variation within households.

Keywords: Advocacy and Persuasion, Education Policy, Human Resources¸ Labor and Education, Intergovernmental Relations, International Affairs/Globalization, International Development, International Security, Press and Public Policy

Suggested Citation

Andrabi, Tahir and Das, Jishnu and Khwaja, Asim Ijaz and Zajonc, Tristan, Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan: A Look at the Data (March 2005). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=667843 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.667843

Tahir Andrabi (Contact Author)

Pomona College - Department of Economics ( email )

Claremont, CA 91711
United States
909-607-2513 (Phone)
909-621-8576 (Fax)

Jishnu Das

Georgetown University ( email )

O Street
Washington, DC 20057
United States

Georgetown University ( email )

Old North, Suite 100
37th & O Streets NW
Washington, DC 20057
United States

Asim Ijaz Khwaja

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) ( email )

79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
617-384-7790 (Phone)
617-496-5960 (Fax)

Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies (CeRP) ( email )

Via Real Collegio, 30
Moncalieri, Turin 10024
Italy

Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) ( email )

Duke University
Durham, NC 90097
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Tristan Zajonc

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) ( email )

79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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