Madaaris in Pakistan: Producing Better Educated Students Who are More Socially Intolerant and Inclined to Support Islamist Violence?

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.