learning center instructor. “I can’t wait to be back to Myanmar, but if we must stay here for
eight or ten years, Bangla will be very useful,” he said.175
Bangladeshi citizens working as instructors in learning centers also said Rohingya children
wanted to learn Bengali, out of curiosity when their teachers used Bangla words, and
because they wanted to be able to speak with the Bangladeshi children they interacted
with in host communities.*76 Another teacher said her students “are eager to learn the
Bangla language but the teachers are not allowed to teach it and are not even supposed to
speak it, but some use formal Bangla words.”*77 Another Bangladeshi instructor said,
Sometimes the children tell me, ‘Apu [Sister], we want to learn Bangla. We
want to go to the Bangladeshi schools, as they have benches, table, chairs,
books, and colorful uniforms.’ But we don’t have authorization to teach
them any Bangla.178
Another Bangladeshi teacher in a learning center said of her Rohingya students, “it would
be good if they go back to Myanmar, but until then, as long as they are in Bangladesh, they
should learn Bangla. It can be an advantage for the kids to learn Bangla along with
Burmese.”179
Lack of Secondary Education
All children, including refugees, have the right to access secondary education on an equal
basis without discrimination.18° UNHCR’s standard for education in emergencies provides
that refugee children should “have access to primary, secondary or context-appropriate
preparatory or accelerated education of good quality during the first phase of an
emergency,” and that “refugee children and youth are able to participate in accredited
73 Human Rights Watch interview, Mohamad Siddiq, Cox’s Bazar, February 15, 2019.
176 Human
Rights Watch interviews with instructor, learning center in camp 7, Cox’s Bazar, February 6, 2019.
177 Human Rights Watch interview, Yesmin Sultana, learning center in camp 11, Cox’s Bazar, February 5, 2019.
178 Human
Rights Watch interview, Iffat Farjana, instructor at learning center in camp 7, Cox’s Bazar, February 6, 2019
179 Human Rights Watch interview with Ruma, learning center in the Cox’s Bazar camps, February 5, 2019.
180 See “International legal standards,” Section III.
“ARE WE HUMAN?”
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