While it is expected that the repatriation [to Myanmar] will take place within
two years, the children and adolescents in the camps will lose their golden
time for learning which is a global concern. Nevertheless, given the
situation in the camps and uncertainty regarding repatriation timing etc.,
[the] National Task Force ... issued guidelines to provide “informal” learning
opportunity ... and the learning should be either in Myanmar or English
language. ... Keeping in mind the practical difficulties of space, resources
and limited learning time the GIEP chooses to be modest in
its aspirations.®
“The [government] perspective is that because [the Rohingya] are here on a temporary
basis, they should only be given an informal framework, no formal education — we can’t go
too far,” one senior humanitarian official said. “It depends how you look at the problem,”
said the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, in charge of implementing
government policy in Cox’s Bazar camps.®83 “If they [the Rohingya] stay for 20 years, you’ll
need a curriculum, but if it’s just a year or two, then it’s different. ... There is no possibility
for them to take the Bangladeshi curriculum.”
It has already been two years since the latest exodus of the Rohingya to Bangladesh from
Myanmar, and there are few prospects of repatriation.®4 The Inter-Agency Network on
Education in Emergencies, which has set out minimum standard for humanitarian
education based on the right to education, provides that “recognized national primary and
secondary curricula should be used,” but that “in settings where none exist, curricula will
need to be quickly developed or adapted,” warning that curriculum development and
review is a “long, complex process.”5
81 Guidelines for Informal Education Program (GIEP) for Children of Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN) in
Bangladesh, May 15, 2019, pp. 1-2,
https://www.globalpartnership.org/sites/default/files/2019-05-bangladesh-informal-education-program-rohingya.pdf
(accessed July 17, 2019).
82 Human Rights Watch interview, senior humanitarian agency official, Cox’s Bazar, February 16, 2019.
83 Human Rights Watch interview with Abul Kalam, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, Cox’s Bazar, February 18,
2019.
84 “Myanmar/Bangladesh: Halt Rohingya Returns,” Human Rights Watch news release, August 20, 2019,
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/20/myanmar/bangladesh-halt-rohingya-returns.
85 Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies, “Minimum Standards for Education: Preparedness, Response,
Recovery,” 2012, p. 78,
https://inee.org/system/files/resources/INEE_Minimum_Standards_Handbook_2010%28HSP%29_EN.pdf (accessed
September 4, 2019).
“ARE WE HUMAN?”
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