Inequality, Education and Radicalization: Historical Narrative of Madrassas in the Khairpur District of Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Last two decades have brought madrassas to the focus of the international community. The general assumption about madrassas is that they are the source of radicalization and its expected outcome (terrorism). This study attempts to understand the role of madrassas in the radicalization of society at Khairpur district of Sindh, Pakistan. The primary focus of this study is to examine and investigate the relationship between poverty and madrassas growth; hence, a quantitative cross-sectional approach was adopted to examine the level of poverty. The researcher designed a questionnaire to collect information regarding madrassa students' family background related to family size, land ownership, annual income, and households to determine the level of poverty in the respondents. Khairpur district consists of eight administrative units having 275 madrassas. This study chose five madrassas from each administrative unit; In turn, twenty-five questionnaires were distributed to each madrassa. Thus, the researcher distributed one thousand questionnaires in forty madrassas. After the collection of data, the researcher used SPSS software to carry out statistical analysis. The participants’ responses indicate that most families had large family size, and more than 60% of families own less than five acres of land. As the land is a significant income source in rural areas, the above percentage indicates very limited income. The results of the study indicate a high incidence of poverty in the participant's family backgrounds. Hence, it is the most viable rationale behind parents' choice of madrassas education at Khairpur district and growth in the number of madrassas.