Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan A Look at the Data

Determination of the actual enrollment rate in madrassa by extracting data from various published sources and census while also highlighting the schooling choices established by Pakistani household.

The purpose of this reports to examine the role played by religious education sector namely Madrassas in Pakistan and ascertain the claim that religious schooling has been on a rise in the country is true. Analysis conducted in districts of Punjab from the data extracted from Population census (1998), Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (PIHS) and Learning and Educational Achievement in Punjab Schools (LEAPS) survey reveals that estimates of children enrolled in madrassas both absolute and relative are exaggerated by various public reports.

The analysis reveals that madrassa enrollment is significantly high in Pashtun belt which might be attributable to Afghan war influence. Variation in madrassas enrollment is found within families whereby households that send at least one child to madrassa are likely to send their other children to private or public school. Rich and poor households show little difference in their preference for madrassas whereby existence of other schooling options in any given settlement drastically reduces the madrassas enrollment rate. The analysis reveals that madrassa is not considered an alternative schooling choice by an average Pakistani household and the most popular choice amongst the rural and urban community is private school while the next best alternative is a government school as opposed to a madrassa. 

The research paper can be found here.