Some children said that they prioritized earning an income for their families or collecting humanitarian assistance over attending classes because of the poor quality of education available in learning centers, and because of the level of deprivation their families faced in the refugee camps. Given the Rohingya population’s vulnerability, the fact that Bangladesh bans Rohingya adults from the job market may exacerbate Rohingya children’s vulnerability to child labor. Some boys are reportedly exploited in bonded labor in the fish drying industry in Cox’s Bazar, while Rohingya girls work in the homes of Bangladeshi families up to 150 kilometers from the camps, and some girls are reportedly forced into commercial sexual exploitation.254 A UNICEF assessment noted that “the lack of adolescent, youth and adult education is a critical gap in the education response” because out-ofschool children are more vulnerable to child labor as well as violence, trafficking, child marriage and exploitation.?52 Child labor was a significant cause of dropouts from learning centers, especially among boys, according to teachers. One learning center instructor said that seven or eight of the 40 children in her class, all boys, had dropped out to work because their families needed income.253 Abdus Shukur, a 26-year-old teacher, said two boys, around 10 years old, dropped out of his learning center “to take jobs in a local tea stall,” where they were paid very little, but that “their parents said even this cash is helpful.”254 Another instructor, Ruma, 21, said she followed up with parents whose children stopped attending the learning center to work. “There are parent meetings two times a month, and we ask them why they are withdrawing their children and putting them to work. They always reply, ‘We need money. The aid is not always sufficient for large families. It is betterto put the kids into the work. Earlier is better.’”255 Toslima, an instructor at a learning center, said “one of my smartest students is selling puffed rice in a nearby market, because his parents did not want him to come to class but to contribute to the family income.”256 251 U.S. Department of Labor, 2017 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor: Bangladesh, p. 2, https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/5bdo5aa62.pdf (accessed August 1, 2019). 252 UNICEF, Evaluation of UNICEF’s Response to the Rohingya Refugee Crisis in Bangladesh, November 2018, Vol. 2, Annex 4, “Summary of Response Against Core Commitments for Children,” p. 22. 253 Human Rights Watch interview with Shabnur, learning center instructor, Cox’s Bazar, February 6, 2019. 254 Human Rights Watch interview with Abdus Shukur, Cox’s Bazar, February 6, 2019. 255 Human Rights Watch interview with Ruma, Bangladeshi learning center instructor, Cox’s Bazar, February 5, 2019. 256 Human Rights Watch interview with Toslima, Rohingya learning center instructor Balukhali 2 camp, Cox’s Bazar, February 7, 2019. 65 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2019