The UN on Friday called for urgent investment to provide educational opportunities to the Rohingya children in and around the vast camps in south-eastern regions of Bangladesh.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) presented a new report to this end saying frustration and despair are overwhelming young Rohingya refugees.
The report marks two years since the arrival of 745,000 Rohingyas began, a Muslim minority community in Myanmar, who left their homeland to escape extreme violence.
It says by June 2019, non-formal education has been provided to 280,000 children aged 4 to 14. UNICEF and its partners have ensured access to learning for 192,000 of those children by enrolling them in 2,167 learning centres.
However, over 25,000 children are left unattended and an additional 640 learning centres are neededto bring them under education net.
Moreover, 97 per cent of children aged 15 to 18 years are not attending any type of educational facility.
“For the Rohingya children and youth now in Bangladesh, mere survival is not enough,” said UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore.
“It is absolutely critical that they are provided with the quality learning and skills development that they need to guarantee their long-term future,” he added.
More formal teaching and learning materials are being given to refugee children who are studying in camp learning centres.
UNICEF and other agencies called on the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh to allow the use of national educational resources – for example, curricula, learning and training manuals and assessment methods – to help provide more structured learning for Rohingya children.
“Providing learning and training materials is a huge task and can only be realised with full backing of a range of partners,” said Ms. Fore.
“But the hopes of a generation of children and adolescents are at stake. We cannot afford to fail them,” he further said.
The report says that without adequate opportunities for learning, adolescents can fall prey to human traffickers who offer to smuggle desperate young Rohingyas out of Bangladesh, and to drug dealers.
UNICEF is supporting the development of youth centres and adolescent clubs where psychosocial support, basic literacy and numeracy and vocational skills are provided. Nearly 70 such facilities were operational by July 2019 but more are needed.
“Our aim is to help equip adolescents with the skills they need to deal with many risks they encounter such as trafficking, abuse, and – in the case of girls – early marriage,” said UNICEF Bangladesh Representative, Tomoo Hozumi.
“In broader terms, we are helping this generation of youth build their identity and make them part of the solution to the extremely challenging situation they find themselves in.”
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