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Qur’anic boarding schools ( daara) form part of Senegal’s informal education system. Despite criticism and a relative decline in their attractiveness, many families still send their children to daara. Parents and their children choose this type of school for macro-social economic and geographic reasons, and because the daara teach a number of traditional religious and cultural values that families revere. Analysis of their rationales provides an understanding of the role that daara continue to play in the education, socialization, and socioeconomic integration of graduates, based on the testimonies of their parents, extended family and community.