shelters or in camp markets, where they sell vegetables, snacks, and other products. But shopkeepers typically contend with low profit margins that have caused some to go out of business. The relatively better educated sometimes teach basic academic or religious classes from their shelters or in camp madrassas. Parents are usually able to pay teachers very little, if anything, for these education services. Eighteen percent of families obtain cash by selling rations. Average earnings from rations are only 469 taka, enough to help purchase food items not provided by aid, such as sachets of coffee (20 to 30 taka), vegetables (10 to 50 taka per unit), or fish (150 taka or higher per kilogram). Figure 33. Mean monthly income according to level of household educational attainment Households with higher educational attainment are more likely to have a family member with a job, and thus earn more income (figure 33). The better educated are more likely to be eligible candidates for NGO positions that require the English language or similar skills. They can also try to make ends meet by teaching. Households with higher income are also more likely to receive larger remittances, indicating that having more education also enables Rohingya to earn more in other countries. None Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 BDT 1, 652 BDT 1, 285 BDT 1, 775 BDT 2, 388 Grade 6 BDT 2, 559 Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Passed university matriculation exam University A 25-year-old shopkeeper from Maungdaw explained how he was able to open a shop in a camp market, and described the challenges of turning a profit. “My brothers and I sold some gold to finance the opening of our shop here in the camp. We mostly sell Bangladeshi products. We also sell a few Myanmar items like cigarettes, which were imported by Bangladeshi traders. But nowadays nearly all shopkeepers are losing their investment and not making any profit.” BDT 1, 282 Grade 5 Grade 7 Camp entrepreneurs face obstacles to earning a profit BDT 1, 564 BDT 2, 939 BDT 4, 266 BDT 3, 691 BDT 5, 546 BDT 7, 228 BDT 9, 372 The lack of employment opportunities entices some Rohingya to engage in drug trafficking In the beginning, the man said, Rohingya shopkeepers could order items directly from large Bangladeshi wholesalers, with no middle agent. “Now the situation has changed,” the man said, because middle agents have inserted themselves into the supply chain. “We can’t order from the wholesaler directly anymore, because the middle people prevent it. They have given the wholesaler an order not to sell anything to us directly. They follow the order because they don’t want to get involved in any problems.” On top of rent and night watchman payments that must be made, this has reduced the family’s profits. “I am going to close my shop,” he said. “It is much more difficult now for shopkeepers. We will have to close our shops and will have no earnings or livelihood. It is becoming very difficult to survive here. The conditions here are horrific. I can’t see any options. What should I do? I think most Rohingya-owned shops in the camp will close very soon. Also, there is less paid volunteer work [with NGOs]. Despite it, we will have to find a way.” While the study did not look into the illicit economy and drug trafficking, criminal activity was described anecdotally as a source of income for some. The Cox’s Bazar Analysis and Research Unit (CARU) of the United Nations Development Programme estimates that in the first four months of 2020, 4.44 million yaba tablets were seized and 176 people arrested in anti-narcotrafficking operations.32 A camp resident formerly imprisoned in the Cox’s Bazar jail said that many Rohingya were there due to their involvement in drug trafficking, and described how this system operates. “People on both sides of the border do yaba business together. Sometimes they are arrested. Some people in Myanmar have relatives in the camp and ask them to store yaba in their shelters, to act as a middleperson. Some people are interested in doing this to earn more money. This is not good.” He believed that most people’s involvement was due to economic factors rather than drug addiction, and estimated that “for every four youths who are doing yaba work, there is only one who is using.” 32