By contrast, Bangladesh has accredited education programs that target out-of-school
Bangladeshi children, run by the same humanitarian agencies that teach Rohingya
children. Bangladeshi children who follow these accredited programs, which are run out of
learning centers in host communities, are able to take primary school certificate
examinations, and can then transition to government secondary schools, according to an
official at the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), a Bangladesh-based
INGO.+56 These programs will be scaled up with support from international donors. In June
2018, the World Bank approved a $700 million concessional credit for Bangladesh’s
Quality Learning for All Program, in order to “bring about one million out-of-school children
to learning centers that would follow national primary education curriculum, and thus help
them integrate with the formal education system.”157
Myanmar has not permitted Rohingya refugee children to take its national examinations.15®
A student, Atif A., 14, who had completed class 8 in Myanmar, urged the Bangladesh
government to permit Rohingya students to study the Myanmar curriculum: “In Bangladesh
we want the government to approve Burmese curriculum so then we can go to university,”
he wrote, in English.59
Osman O., a Rohingya teacher at a learning center in camp 7, appealed to “international
stakeholders” to ensure that Rohingya children’s education is certified:
The [Bangladesh] authorities [should] ensure that the children can follow
the Burmese curriculum and get formal certification, for when the children
return to Myanmar and try to resume their studies. There should be some
were returned to Myanmar under a plan to encourage voluntary repatriations. Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, “RRRC Kalam
transferred, made OSD,” Dhaka Tribune, September 2, 2019,
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2019/09/02/mahbub-alam-made-new-rirc (accessed September 17,
2019).
155 Human Rights Watch interview, Abul Kalam, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, Cox’s Bazar, February 18,
2019.
156 Human Rights Watch interview, international NGO education official [BRAC], Cox’s Bazar, February 18, 2019.
157 World Bank, “World Bank Provides $700 Million to Improve Primary Education in Bangladesh,” June 14, 2018,
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/06/14/world-bank-provides-700-million-to-improve-primaryeducation-in-bangladesh (accessed July 28, 2019).
158 Human Rights Watch interview, international NGO education official, Cox’s Bazar, February 14, 2019.
159 Human
Rights Watch interview with, and written note received from Atif A., Cox’s Bazar, February 12, 2019.
“ARE WE HUMAN?”
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