lll. Legal Standards The government of Bangladesh, by impeding international efforts to provide Rohingya children with a quality education, is violating their right to education. Education Law and Policy in Bangladesh Bangladesh’s Constitution provides that “fundamental human rights and freedoms and respect for the dignity and worth of the human person shall be guaranteed,” and requires the establishment of “a uniform, mass-oriented and universal system of education and extending free and compulsory education to all children.”3°2 “Education is key to a nation’s development ... education is the backbone of the nation,” wrote Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the preface to the country’s 2010 National Education Policy.3°3 Despite the words of its constitution, the government interprets the right to education as a right only of Bangladeshi nationals. Bangladesh cited the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child when it updated and revised the National Child Policy in 2011. However, while the revised policy provides for universal education (article 6.5), child protection (6.7), birth registration (6.10), a role for NGOs in policy making and implementation (11), and other measures, itis “applicable to a// children — the citizen[s] of Bangladesh without any discrimination” (art. 3).3°¢ Bangladesh’s “Core Documents” submitted to the UN in April 2015 state that its national objectives include eliminating illiteracy and addressing dropouts to achieve universal enrollment in upper secondary school (12 class) by 2021, with gender parity.3°5 3°2 Constitution of Bangladesh, Articles 11 and 17(a), available at http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/bangladesh- constitution.pdf (accessed May 20, 2019). 3°3 Bangladesh Ministry of Education, National Education Policy, “Preface,” p. iii, December 2010, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/o2.National-Education-Policy-2010-English.pdf (accessed June 10, 2019). 3°4 National Child Policy (emphasis added), 2011, http://ecd-bangladesh.net/document/documents/National-Children- Policy-2011-English-04.12.2012.pdf (accessed June 10, 2019). 3°5 Bangladesh, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/CoreDocuments.aspx (accessed June 15, 2019). “ARE WE HUMAN?” 76