Lack of Certification
Closely related to the use of a formal curriculum is the issue of certification — whether
children who complete levels of schooling then receive documentation that would be
recognized by the host country or their country of origin, and would allow them to continue
to higher levels. Certification of schooling is a minimum standard for education in
humanitarian emergencies. The Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies states,
In emergency contexts through to recovery, it is important that national
authorities, educational institutions and employers recognise curricula and
the certificates awarded. Communities want to know that their children’s
education has value and that national authorities recognise that value.
Rohingya children and teachers had different opinions about whether it was more
desirable to be certified under the Bangladeshi or Myanmar systems. But at present, no
education that Rohingya children complete in Bangladesh is certified. The government of
Bangladesh did not certify the education Rohingya children received at learning centers
before the informal education program was introduced, and has not indicated that it will
certify their education under the informal program. As a result, Rohingya students who
attend GIEP classes will not be able to transfer into the education system of Bangladesh,
Myanmar, or any other country, or to sit for national examinations.+53 There is no possibility
that their education in the camps could be used to continue to study or to gain
employment.
“Certification is important — that they get some kind of recognition, something useable,”
Abul Kalam, the then-Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner
told Human Rights
Watch in February 2019.4 But he added that the issue was beyond his control. “It needs to
be approved at Dhaka level.”155
152 Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies, “Minimum Standards for Education: Preparedness, Response,
Recovery,” 2012, p. 76,
https://inee.org/system/files/resources/INEE_Minimum_Standards_Handbook_2010%28HSP%29_EN.pdf (accessed
September 4, 2019).
153 In Bangladesh, national examinations are required for acceptance to secondary school (from class 9 to 10), upper
secondary school (class 11 and 12), and a secondary school matriculation certification exam is required for enrollment in
university.
154 Abul Kalam was removed from his position as RRRC by the government on August 25, 2019, shortly after some
Bangladeshi media outlets and political figures criticized authorities for permitting Rohingya refugees to hold a large,
peaceful demonstration in the Cox’s Bazar camps to commemorate their forced displacement, and because no Rohingya
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2019