'International community must share responsibility for educating Rohingya children’

More than half a million Rohingya children have not seen the inside of a classroom since they arrived in the refugee camps in Bangladesh more than two years ago.
 
The international community must not shirk its responsibility when it comes to the education of the Rohingya children in Cox's Bazar camps, Amnesty International said ahead of its maiden Global Refugee Forum in Geneva.
 
The three-day forum will take place on upcoming December 16-18.
 
"The Rohingya children in the camps must not become a lost generation. The international community must accept they will not be able to return home to Myanmar any time soon. And they cannot continue to see their futures slowly stolen from them in conditions where they are being denied their right to education," said Saad Hammadi, South Asia Campaigner at Amnesty International.
 
"When a child receives education, everyone benefits. Both Bangladesh and the international community must step up and share the responsibility of educating all children in Cox's Bazar, Rohingya refugees and the host community as well. The Bangladesh government can start by lifting the restrictions on education for refugees currently in place."
 
According to a multi-sector needs assessment released by the Inter Sector Coordination Group in October 2019, nearly one-third of 1,311 households surveyed in Cox's Bazar has at least one primary or secondary school aged child who is not attending school.
 
"It is in everyone's interests to see that all children in Cox's Bazar receive quality education as it is their right. Education can lift entire communities. Far from being a burden on a national economy, it should be seen as an investment that will yield great dividends. But the denial of education can have very negative consequences," said Saad Hammadi.