MoFA bins reports on Rohingya learning centres closure

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday said the reports on closure of learning centres in Rohingya camps as run by a few international media are “fabricated and false”.

“No learning centre for Rohingya children has been closed down. Only unauthorized ‘private’ coaching or learning centres in the camps have been shut down,” MoFA said.

Following the guidance of the government of Bangladesh, NGOs and INGOs are providing informal learning to “Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals” (Rohingya) children through around 3,000 “learning centers” in the camps, the government said. Recently, informal learning using Myanmar curricula and Myanmar language has been rolled out in the camps to improve their productivity, uphold their tradition and cultural values leading to their reintegration in Myanmar upon repatriation.

However, MoFA said, some unauthorized “private” home-based schools, coaching centres, and madrasahs run by Rohingyas were conducting private coaching activities in the camps without the approval of the government of Bangladesh following their separate curricula and ulterior motives.

These types of private and home-based learning centres do not ensure equity among FDMN children. Those unauthorized activities were asked to stop, said the ministry.

Due to these learning centre activities, the main learning centres are becoming unutilised, which is hampering the learning activities among FDMN learners in a common standard. In that context those unauthorised activities were asked to stop, it said.

The authorised learning centres are in operation following the government’s guidance, MoFA said. “Neither Unicef nor UNHCR ever raised any concern for closing the unauthorised centres.”