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Peaceful Coexistence? The Role of Religious Schools and NGOs in the Growth of Female Secondary Schooling in Bangladesh

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 49; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00220388.2012.733369

1743-9140

M. Niaz Asadullah, Nazmul Chaudhury,

Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

Abstract Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), runs a large number of non-formal primary schools in Bangladesh which target out-of-school children from poor families. These schools are well-known for their effectiveness in closing the gender gap in primary school enrolment. On the other hand, registered non-government secondary madrasas (or Islamic schools) today enrol one girl against every boy student. In this article, we document a positive spillover effect of BRAC schools on female secondary enrolment in registered madrasas. Drawing upon school enrolment data aggregated at the region level, we first show that regions that had more registered madrasas experienced greater secondary female enrolment growth during 1999–2003, holding the number of secular secondary schools constant. In this context we test the impact of BRAC-run primary schools on female enrolment in registered madrasas. We deal with the potential endogeneity of placement of BRAC schools using an instrumental variable approach. Controlling for factors such as local-level poverty, road access and distance from major cities, we show that regions with a greater presence of BRAC schools have higher female enrolment growth in secondary madrasas. The effect is much bigger when compared to that on secondary schools. Acknowledgements Niaz Asadullah gratefully acknowledges support from the Leverhulme Trust UK. This study does not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank or the Governments they represent. We are grateful to Kaniz Fatema and Hyder Hossain of BRAC, Sajjad Zohir, seminar participants at Economic Research Group (ERG) and BRAC for helpful comments. The usual disclaimers apply. Notes 1. Madrasas operating at primary or secondary levels in Bangladesh are classified in two broad categories: Aliyah (recognised) and Quomi (unrecognised) madrasas. The latter group accounts for a very small share of total school enrolment in rural Bangladesh (Asadullah et al., Citation2010). Besides, their students are not eligible to seek admission into recognised madrasas and schools at an equivalent grade. In this study, therefore, we focus on enrolment in registered schools and (Aliyah) madrasas only. 2. In general, evaluation of the performance of national NGOs is rare. As pointed out by Barr and Fafchamps (2005), there have been very few quantitative evaluations of entire countries' NGO sectors so that little is known about the motivations and performance of NGOs in general. Existing published research on Bangladeshi NGOs (for example, Gauri and Galef, Citation2005; Fruttero and Gauri, Citation2005) is largely descriptive; they do not test relative performance of NGOs with other service providers. 3. Additional evidence on the quality of BRAC schools is also provided by Asadullah et al. (Citation2007). Studies on the relative performance of NGO schools in other countries include Arif and Saqib (Citation2003) and Khan and Kiefer (Citation2007). Both studies utilise sample survey data from Pakistan. 4. One could argue that registered madrasas falsely report higher female enrolment to benefit from greater allocation of public funds (for example, towards teaching support and so forth). Indeed government funding of madrasas to some extent depends on the number of girls enrolled. However, the observed boom in female enrolment in registered madrasas is not owing to bias in official enrolment statistics which is based on institutional/administrative survey/records. Analysis of primary survey data on rural educational institutions and households confirms the growth in female enrolment (for example, see Asadullah et al., Citation2010). 5. Administratively the nation is divided into 6 divisions, 64 districts, over 500 sub-districts (upazilas), over 4000 unions and cluster of households (mouzas). A union on average comprises of 15 villages. A mouza may or may not be greater than a village but is always smaller than a union. 6. However, since 1992 BRAC additionally began constructing schools in urban slums. 7. While BRAC bears the majority of the expenses, the cost of maintaining the classrooms is the responsibility of the community. Communities are involved in deciding locations and schedules of schools as well as providing labour and materials to build schools. 8. In contrast, madrasas in Pakistan account for less than 1 per cent of total school enrolment (Andrabi et al., 2006). 9. A similar analysis of data on student transition from non-formal to formal education in the case of BRAC school students is provided by Nath (Citation2002). Nath reports 4.5 per cent of BRAC school graduates subsequently being enrolled in the madrasas. However, his analysis is based on sample survey data for 1995 when the registered madrasa sector was yet to be feminized. 10. There are about 6000 primary registered madrasas as opposed to 8404 secondary madrasas in Bangladesh. 11. In this study, we only describe the phenomenon of the rise of feminised madrasas. What implication this has for other MDG targets (for example, relating to women empowerment and reproductive health behaviour) will depend on the consequences in terms of social behaviour of female graduates of secondary madrasas. An investigation into these issues is outside the remit of the study. However, see Asadullah and Chaudhury (Citation2010) that present some descriptive evidence on the attitudes of female graduates of secondary schools and madrasas towards labour force participation, gender inequality and so on. 12. The Census has been conducted by the Ministry of Education, Government of Bangladesh. 13. As many as 24 per cent (N = 1179) of the unions in Bangladesh do not have a secondary madrasa. 14. A similar pattern is observed from gross enrolment statistics. According to BANBEIS, gross female enrolment rate at secondary level in school (total number of females enrolled in secondary school/total number of 11–15 years old in the population) has increased from 42.5 per cent to 48.4 per cent between 1999 and 2003. 15. The justification for excluded instrument choice is as follows. In early years, BRAC schools were opened in areas where BRAC already had a field office. This meant that BRAC branches are relevant for the placement of BRAC schools. In addition, a school was only opened if the village had a married woman with a minimum of nine years of education who could be recruited as a teacher. The number of BRAC female members therefore serves as a proxy for the local stock of potential female teachers and in turn positively predicts the probability of placement of a BRAC school. 16. As an alternative placebo test, we repeated the regressions using growth rate in boys enrolment as the dependent variable (results available upon request). Once again, the presence of girls' madrasa in the region had no impact on boys' enrolment. 17. This finding is similar to that of Khwaja et al (Citation2007) who find an externality effect of public schools on the emergence of private schools in rural Pakistan. The authors find that private schools were set up in Pakistani villages that have had government schools because an ample local supply of public schools graduates made it feasible for private entrepreneurs to set up low-cost private schools. 18. For evidence on differences in physical capacity in terms of teacher-student ratio, see Asadullah et al. (Citation2010). Additional informationNotes on contributorsMohammad Niaz Asadullah An Online Appendix is available for this article which can be accessed via the online version of this journal available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2012.733369