Yusuf Ali, 43, who also lives in Cox’s Bazar and whose two daughters are being held on Bhasan Char, said, “the CiC told us that our daughters would never be returned to us here. They said, ‘You still have time to choose to go there [to Bhasan Char], otherwise forget about your children.’” 113 Failed Promises of Education One major incentive to move to Bhasan Char for many refugees was the promise that their children would have access to the full accredited education that they are currently denied in Cox’s Bazar. 114 In Cox’s Bazar, the government has blocked aid groups from providing any meaningful education for the approximately 450,000 Rohingya children in the refugee camps and banned the children from attending schools outside the camps. Barred from opening schools, nongovernmental organizations have since 2017 constructed about 3,000 “learning centers”: small, temporary bamboo structures that can accommodate up to 40 children at a time. But there is no secondary-level education, and groups are barred from teaching the Bangla language and using the Bangladesh curriculum, meaning hundreds of thousands of children in the camps in Cox’s Bazar have lost years of education. In January 2020, the government responded to public pressure and approved a pilot program to allow 10,000 Rohingya refugee children to get a formal school curriculum. However, this program was put on hold when confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported in Bangladesh and the government shut down existing learning centers in March 2020 to prevent against the spread of the virus. The Bangladesh government’s refusal to allow refugee children access to education in the camps put refugees in a desperate position when authorities began relocations to Bhasan Char, promising that there would be schools, teachers, and accredited education on the island. But refugees said that when they arrived on Bhasan Char, this was not the case. Bosor, 42, who is living on Bhasan Char with his two sons, Nobi, 14, and Samsul, 12, said: 113 Human Rights Watch interview with Yusuf Ali, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, January 21, 2021. 114 See International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), G.A. res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 49, article 13 (right to education). U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3, entered into force January 3, 1976, “AN ISLAND JAIL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA” 36