Bangladesh to establish schools for Rohingya refugee children

DHAKA: Officials in Bangladesh, in cooperation with the United Nations, would extend educational programs for hundreds of Muslim Rohingya children living in refugee camps who are currently receiving just basic lessons, authorities said on Wednesday.

Children who have moved with their families from neighboring Myanmar to camps in Bangladesh’s Cox Bazar district are now attending around 1,500 Unicef-run learning centers that provide basic education, training and other fun activities.

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Under the new program, launching in April, they will provide formal education from Grade 6 to Grade 9 in Bangladesh, the UN said in a statement.

Mahbub Alam Talukder, Bangladesh’s refugee, relief and resettlement minister, said that “the government recently agreed with the UN recommendation that Rohingya children should be taught with a Myanmar education in our country.”

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The minister further said that the children will be educated in Myanmar’s language, and would adopt Myanmar’s curriculum, there is no possibility of learning in formal Bangladeshi schools or reading books in Bengali, there is no space for them to live here in Bangladesh for a long time so that they will be able to adapt to Myanmar’s culture when they return back, he added.