UNICEF to Set Up New Learning Centres for Rohingya Refugee Children
UNICEF announced Friday that it is planning to establish more than 1,300 new learning centres for Rohingya children who have fled Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh.
UNICEF is currently running 182 learning centres in Rohingya camps and makeshift settlements in Cox’s Bazar, and has enrolled 15,000 children. It plans to increase the number of learning centres to 1,500, to reach 200,000 children over the next year.
“It is critical that these children, who have suffered so much in this crisis should have access to education in a safe and nurturing environment,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh. “This is critical not just to provide them with a much-needed sense of normalcy now, but so that they can build a future to look forward to.”
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According to the UN Human Rights Council, more than 400,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine State in recent weeks.
They are pouring into neighbouring Bangladesh with reports that they were driven from their villages by military forces who attacked them in their homes and burned vast swathes of territory.
A Human Rights Council resolution in March 2017 called on the international fact-finding mission to establish the facts and circumstances of alleged human rights violations and abuses in Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine State.
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The UNICEF learning centres provide early education to children aged 4 to 6, as well as non-formal basic education to children from ages 6 to 14. In each learning centre there are three shifts, with each shift comprising of 35 children.
Children learn English, Math, Burmese, Science, Arts and Anthems in the learning centres. Children also receive psychosocial counselling, and are taught hygiene and life skills. The children are given books, pens, colouring pencils, school bags and other educational materials.
According to UNICEF, over a quarter of a million Rohingya children have fled Myanmar into Cox’s Bazar since August 25.
Photo courtesy: UNICEF
