The Madrasa Pipeline: Why 3.5 Million Pakistani Children Learn Only the Quran While the Country Loses $50 Billion a Year in GDP Growth
Expert Comment — South Asia Programme 2026-02-20 IIn the rural districts of southern Punjab and northern Sindh, a parallel education system operates largely invisible to the Pakistani state and the international community. An estimated 3.5 million children attend madrasas, religious seminaries where the curriculum is dominated by Islamic studies. While some madrasas provide a rigorous





