Does Pakistan Have a Madrasah Problem? Insights from New Data

Abstract

Pakistan's madaaris sustain attention for their suspected contribution to militancy. Some scholars reject this securitized discourse, arguing that it mobilizes/sustains various fictions that madaaris: are schools last resort for the poor; provide little value; expanding in their usage; and spawning international terrorists. I employ four new data-sources to inform debates between those who understand seminaries from the optic of security and those who do not. I find: madrasah use is neither expanding nor due to poverty; parents use them to complement other forms of education, reflecting parental preferences for religious and secular educations; madaaris provide educational benefit beyond public schools.