Methodology
This report is based on interviews with Rohingya refugees, Bangladesh government
officials, humanitarian education actors, and on analysis of policy and planning
documents related to the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
In February 2019, Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed 99 Rohingya children,
including 18 girls, ages 7 to 17, who had arrived in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, since fleeing
Myanmar after August 2017, as well as 46 Rohingya refugees working as teachers in the
camps. Most of the interviews were conducted with groups of children aged from 12 to 16,
during which each child was asked brief questions about her or his educational
background in Myanmar and current access to education in Bangladesh. In addition, in
response to questions directed to the groups at large, some children in each group
volunteered to provide more detailed information on these issues. Twenty-one children
were interviewed in smaller groups of4 or 5, and 10 children were interviewed individually.
Also during February 2019, we conducted individual interviews with 13 Rohingya children,
including 4 girls, who were born in Bangladesh to parents who fled there from Myanmar,
and had been registered as refugees before mid-1992. We spoke to these children about
their experiences attending government schools outside their refugee camps by passing as
Bangladeshi nationals, before an investigation identified them and they were expelled.
This research also involved interviews with five “registered” Rohingya refugees, including
two community leaders.
In all cases, children were informed of who was conducting the interviews, why, and how
the interviews would be used, that they could choose whether or not to participate, could
stop or leave the interview at any time, and would not be remunerated or lead to additional
humanitarian assistance including education.
The interviews may not be statistically representative of the overall educational situation
of Rohingya refugee children in the camps. A higher proportion of the children interviewed
by Human Rights Watch said they had gone to school in Myanmar than was found by larger
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2019