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It was a rainy day in mid-September in 2017 when 12-year-old Nur Hossain was sharing his agonies and expectations with this reporter beside Balukhali temporary camp.
He was sad for leaving his own home at Maungdaw Township. But he was also happy as he would not be worried about gunshots from law enforcers anymore and would be allowed to have education his friends are receiving at Nayapara camp.
Sixth among seven siblings, Nur completed grade 2 of Myanmar curriculum and was willing to continue his study. As they were not allowed in Mogh schools, he left the institution and joined a learning centre at the concentration camp in Myanmar run by World Food Programme (WFP).
Nur Hossian wanted to be a teacher.
Five years later, this reporter could not be able to find Nur but could talk to many others of his age.
The adolescents or boys just passed the ages now are speaking otherwise. Their eyes are now filled with frustration other than the dream of becoming a teacher or an aid worker.
One of them, Mohammad Jasim (pseudonym), 19, a resident of Camp 4 who was forced to come to this country from Buthidaung town of Myanmar with his father and four siblings is now going to finish study of grade 8 within February next year.
“I want to be a teacher and teach other children of my community. But how many of us could get chance?” he asked. However, he said the camp management has introduced grade nine recently and now they can study a little further. But the question remains the same – “What next?”
Education for Rohingya in Myanmar and the prevailing situation in Cox’s Bazar camps
In Rakhine state of Myanmar, the Rohingya children were prevented from receiving regular education by the Junta government for a long and the children were mostly at the schools in concentration camps.
But the situation was not the same before the 1990s. Many elderly Rohingya people told this reporter back in 2017 that they went to government schools recognized now as Mogh schools in Maungdaw or Buthidaung towns together with Mogh people.
Several Rohingya people said they are enjoying better education facilities at Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar than Rakhine state.
According to the education sector of Inter-Sectoral Coordination Group (ISCG) MC scale-up is going on for Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 children. Myanmar Curriculum (MC) textbooks were printed and distributed among KG, Grades 1, and 2 students.
Additionally, bridging and remedial packages for Grades 1 and 2 are to be used as supplementary materials in order to ensure a smooth transition from the LCFA (Learning Competency Framework and Approach) to MC.
To ensure education access for older children (11 years and above) the ALP (Accelerated Learning Program) was developed in two packages (ALP-1 and ALP-2). Teacher Development Programs for both Rohingya and Host communities are continuing on pedagogy and subject-specific teaching.
Myanmar curriculum pilot for Grades 6, 7, 8, and 9 is going on with 10,915 learners (Girls 1,803).
The Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis targeted some 469,882 children to get the education opportunities while the number of enrollment stands at 356,016 till November 30.
There are 5,628 learning facilities in 33 camps where 3,415 are learning centers where some 4,649 (3,167 male and 1,482 female) are Rohingya facilitators while 3,649 (844 male and 2,805 female) are from the host community.
There are at least two facilitators in each facility where the Rohingya facilitators teach the Rohingya native language to the children while the host facilitators teach English to the students.
Concern over future
Md Ferdaus Alam, who was an officer at CODEC in 2017 and now working on protection in the camps for an NGO, told The Business Post, “During the early days the children aged 7 to 15 were seen more eager to receive their education as they did not have much opportunities in Myanmar. But now what we see is frustration about their future.”
They are given different training and livelihood opportunities but the question remains if it takes too long to repatriate the Rohingya people, then what is the use of having skills without practicing scopes? he asked.
Former MPC lead of a community development Centre in one of the camps in Kutupalong, Salma Sultana said that there are fewer opportunities to develop their skills after completing training.
More activities, including incorporating these trained people in NGOs work, are needed to be initiated to make these people skilled and keep them satisfied with their current state, she opined.
But when it is in more need of international funds, the fund is drying up. Whatever the reason, the global community should take some of the responsibilities that Bangladesh is carrying for years despite being a small, overpopulated poor country, said Ashish Damle, the Oxfam Country Director in Bangladesh.
On December 14, UNICEF acting country representative to Bangladesh Emma Brigham in a program organised by Oxfam Bangladesh in the capital expressed thanks for introducing an education system for the Rohingya children, using Myanmar curricula.
Former Program Manager of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Bangladesh Shyfun Nahar said that Bangladesh is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention; it has been hosting and providing humanitarian support to over 1 million Rohingya people.
And so the country could not be able to do many things they wanted. The best solution to tackle the frustration is sending them back to their own country means repatriation or sending them to a third country so that these people can have their lives, she added. For this, Bangladesh has to be a signatory of the refugee convention or have amended their refugee related legal framework to avail all other options, she opined.
Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, commissioner of Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), Cox’s Bazar under the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR), told The Business Post that understanding the reality, they have already started grade 9 in Rohingya education system and are doing all that they can do.
He, to some extent, expressed a similar thought of Shyfun Nahar and said that the global community should come forward to ensure repatriation of the Rohingyas or to send a significant portion of them to third countries.
Delay in the process would provoke the Rohingya, especially the young people, to flee from the camps and they may fall prey to the traffickers. And it will only increase over time, he fears.
