ISLAMABAD, Feb 27: A World Bank-sponsored study has said that enrolment in Pakistani madressahs (Islamic schools), that critics believe are misused by militants, has been exaggerated by media and a US 9/11 report.
The working paper published this month on the World Bank research website criticizes local and foreign media for exaggerated accounts of number of Islamic schools and their students in Pakistan.
Madressahs are often blamed for instilling religious radicalism and inciting militancy and President Gen Pervez Musharraf, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has promised in the past to reform them.
Pakistani officials say very few madressahs are involved in activities that promote militancy, but President Musharraf urged his nation on Saturday to stop militants trying to misuse the religious seminaries.
The study also expressed concern at the US 9/11 Commission report into the attacks on US cities in 2001, which said millions of families send their children to religious schools in Pakistan.
"Striking, yet unsubstantiated claims such as 'millions of families ... send their children to religious schools' are of particular concern given the emphasis on identifying and curbing potential sources of extremism," it said.
The report (www.econ.worldbank.org/working_papers/41363/) dispelled general perceptions that enrolment was on the rise saying: "We find no evidence of a dramatic increase in madressah enrolment in recent years."
ESTIMATES: It said figures reported by international newspapers such as the Washington Post, saying there were 10 per cent enrolment in madressahs, and an estimate by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group of 33 per cent were not correct.
"It is troubling that none of the reports and articles reviewed based their analysis on publicly available data or established statistical methodologies," it said.
The research, conducted by Jishu Das of the World Bank, Asim Ijaz Khawaja and Tristan Zajonc of the Harvard University and Tahir Andrabil of Pomona College, said: "Madressahs account for less than 1 per cent of all enrolment in the country."
"The educational landscape in Pakistan has changed substantially in the last decade," it said. "But this is due to an explosion of private schools, an important fact that has been left out of the debate on Pakistani education."
The report said it had worked out its figure based on official surveys, 1998 census and its own separate report on school education in central Punjab province. It said during the religious-based resistance to the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets in 1979 madressahs became popular in the north western and south western Pakistan.
Many of these students came from Afghanistan and some of them joined hands to form the Taliban movement, which rose to power in 1996 but was finally ousted by the United States in late 2001 after the Sept 11 attacks.
The report said the Pakistani districts where madressah enrolment was relatively high were in the so-called 'Pukhtun belt' near the Afghan border while in the rest of the country enrolment was thinly but evenly distributed. "Even in the districts that border Afghanistan where madressah enrolment is highest in the country, it is less than 7.5 per cent of all enrolled children," it said. -Reuters
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