“My son is 11 years old. In the camp there are only ‘learning centers’ where sometimes over 200 children repeat all together what the teacher is saying. My son does not learn much, but he has at least a place to go to. In the learning centers, they teach only Burmese, English and some Maths. Almost all children go in the early morning to the mosque to learn to read the Quran.”
“Our son is only 4 years old. My concern is, if he will ever have the chance to get a proper education? We don’t want another child because of that.”
These are some statements, but they show the situation faced by the young people in the camps, in terms of education. The Bangladeshi government does not allow humanitarian organisations to teach Bangla. They hold on to the hope that the refugees will soon return to Myanmar.
Many children go only to the mosques / madrassa for education. So they learn to read Arabic, but not to understand. In those schools they teach a very strict and fundamentalist form of Islam.
Please pray:
- for a good education, that NGO’s will be allowed to teach and also that Bangladeshi teachers will be allowed to teach Bangla.
- that it will be easier for foreigners to get long-term visas to help teaching in the camp.
- for the Bangladesh government to change their policies and integrate the Rohingya into their country.
- against fundamentalism and extremism
- that it will be possible soon for the Rohingya to attend universities