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What Determines Religious School Choice? Theory And Evidence From Rural Bangladesh

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  • M. Niaz Asadullah
  • Rupa Chakrabarti
  • Nazmul Chaudhury

Abstract

type="main"> This paper looks at the determinants of school selection in rural Bangladesh, focusing on the choice between registered Islamic and non-religious schools. Using a unique dataset on secondary school-age children from rural Bangladesh, we find that madrasah enrolment falls as household income increases. At the same time, more religious households, and those that live further away from a non-religious school are more likely to send their children to madrasahs. However, in contrast to the theory, we find that Islamic school demand does not respond to the average quality of schools in the locality.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Niaz Asadullah & Rupa Chakrabarti & Nazmul Chaudhury, 2015. "What Determines Religious School Choice? Theory And Evidence From Rural Bangladesh," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 186-207, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:buecrs:v:67:y:2015:i:2:p:186-207
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1467-8586.2012.00476.x
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    9. Mohammad Niaz Asadullah & Nazmul Chaudhury, 2009. "Holy alliances: public subsidies, Islamic high schools, and female schooling in Bangladesh," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 377-394.
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    12. Laurence Iannaccone & Eli Berman, 2006. "Religious extremism: The good, the bad, and the deadly," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 109-129, July.
    13. Niaz Asadullah, Mohammad & Chaudhury, Nazmul & Dar, Amit, 2007. "Student achievement conditioned upon school selection: Religious and secular secondary school quality in Bangladesh," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 648-659, December.
    14. World Bank, 2010. "Secondary School Madrasas in Bangladesh : Incidence, Quality, and Implications for Reform," World Bank Publications - Reports 18487, The World Bank Group.
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    17. Mohammad Niaz Asadullah (SKOPE, Department of Economics), "undated". "Returns to Education in Bangladesh," QEH Working Papers qehwps130, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    18. Cohen-Zada, Danny & Justman, Moshe, 2005. "The religious factor in private education," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 391-418, May.
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Religious school choice (Ref. Rural Bangladesh)
      by UDADISI in UDADISI on 2012-10-20 05:43:00

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Pierre André & Jean-Luc Demonsant, 2012. "Koranic Schools in Senegal : A real barrier to formal education?," THEMA Working Papers 2012-46, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    2. Niaz Asadullah & Alain Trannoy & Sandy Tubeuf & Gaston Yalonetzky, 2018. "Fair and unfair educational inequality in a developing country: The role of pupil’s effort," Working Papers 474, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    3. Krafft, Caroline & Elbadawy, Asmaa & Sieverding, Maia, 2019. "Constrained school choice in Egypt," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Ahmed, Md. Shakil & Arman, Mohammad Raied & Hossain, Marjan & Rahman, Khandker Wahedur & Rahman, Nuzaba Tahreen, 2024. "School to work transition: Employment and expectations of former madrasa students in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    5. M. Niaz Asadullah, 2016. "Do Pro-Poor Schools Reach Out to the Poor? Location Choice of BRAC and ROSC Schools in Bangladesh," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 49(4), pages 432-452, December.
    6. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Trannoy, Alain & Tubeuf, Sandy & Yalonetzky, Gaston, 2021. "Measuring educational inequality of opportunity: pupil’s effort matters," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    7. M. Niaz Asadullah, 2016. "The Effect Of Islamic Secondary School Attendance On Academic Achievement," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(04), pages 1-24, September.
    8. Khandker Wahedur Rahman, 2023. "International migration and the religious schooling of children in the home country: evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1963-2005, July.
    9. Lubna Naz & Abdul Salam Lodhi & Daniel W. Tsegai, 2020. "Parents’ Perception of Education and Choice of Childhood Activities: Evidence from Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 335-355.
    10. Bano, Masooda & Ferra, Emi, 2018. "Family versus school effect on individual religiosity: Evidence from Pakistan," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 35-42.
    11. Asadullah, M Niaz & Chaudhury, Nazmul, 2016. "To madrasahs or not to madrasahs: The question and correlates of enrolment in Islamic schools in Bangladesh," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 55-69.
    12. Antoninis, Manos, 2014. "Tackling the Largest Global Education Challenge? Secular and Religious Education in Northern Nigeria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 82-92.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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