All-female madrasas boom in Pakistan: Guardian

Riazat Butt

Female madrasas in Pakistan are expanding at a dramatic rate, educating almost a quarter of a million young women and providing more than half of the candidates sitting graduate-level exams every year.

There are more than 1,900 registered all-female madrasas in the country, around 15% of the total, that are experiencing a boom thanks to the failures of the Pakistani education system and an increasing appetite for traditional Islamic values among the lower middle classes.

Female madrasas were virtually unheard of in Pakistan before the late 1970s; the religious institutions have always been aimed at males.

The boom in female madrasas has led to the funding of a project to examine their impact. An Oxford academic, Dr Masooda Bano, has received more than £400,000 from the Economic and Social Research Council to study their appeal and their students.

According to the latest statistics from the Pakistani government, nearly 236,000 girls are studying in almost 2,000 madrasas. Female students exceed males in their academic achievements, with a greater number registering for graduate exams and enjoying a higher pass rate.

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