we saw the military in the yard we were afraid. Sometimes they slept in the school to monitor the movement of people.”47 Myanmar authorities closed schools in northern Rakhine State following the August 25, 2017 attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) armed group. Some schools were reopened in mid-October, but over 106,000 students did not return to their studies, and as of January 10, 2018, 424 out of 650 schools in three predominantly-Rohingya townships remained closed, according to a post on the Myanmar President Office's website.48 Freedom of movement for the Rohingya remaining in northern Rakhine State has been even more Severely restricted since August 2017, with many effectively confined to their homes and villages, without access to health care, education, or other basic services. In addition to formal schooling, thousands of students in Rakhine State attended madrasas, Islamic schools that teach the Quran and in some cases provide basic primary education.49 These too came under threat from the government. Officials said in September 2016 that more than 35 madrasas and 12 mosques in Rakhine State were “illegally built” and would be demolished.5° Some Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh said they had been banned from attending Islamic schools in Myanmar.5 Tertiary education is inaccessible for Rohingya in Rakhine State. Sittwe University had been the only university in Rakhine State that had accepted Rohingya students before they were barred from attending for undefined “security” reasons in 2012.52 Mohamad Sufire, 14, who was in class 8 when he fled from Myanmar, recalled, “even if we stud[ied] hard we 47 Human Rights Watch group interview with Mohamed Arab and five other children, Cox’s Bazar, February 10, 2019. 48 Dhaka Tribune, “Rohingya Children Allegedly Facing Racial Segregation in Rakhine Schools,” February 20, 2018, https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2018/02/20/rakhine-rohingya-children-racial-segregation-school-exam (accessed June 3, 2019). 49 Joint Education Sector Needs Assessment, North Rakhine State, Myanmar, November 2015, p. 30; Mohammed Mohiyuddin Mohammed Sulaiman, “Islamic education in Myanmar: a case study,” chapter 10, in Dictatorship, Disorder and Decline in Myanmar, ed. Trevor Wilson, Monique Skidmore, 2008, available at http://pressfiles.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p102401/mobile/index.html (accessed June 4, 2019); “Joint Education Sector Needs Assessment, North Rakhine State, Myanmar,” November 2015, p. 27. 5° Voice of America, “Mosques, Madrasas to be Razed in Myanmar’s Rakhine State,” September 21, 2016, https://www.voanews.com/a/mosques-madrasas-to-be-razed-in-myanmar-rakhine-state/3520279.html (accessed June 2, 2019). 51 Human Rights Watch group interview with Mohamed Azaz and five other children, Cox’s Bazar, February 10, 2019. 5? Al Jazeera, “Myanmar’s Rohingya Deprived of Education,” August 4, 2014, https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/08/myanmar-rohingya-deprived-education-201484105134827695.html 25 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2019