Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Source/publisher: Various sources via "BurmaNet News"
Date of entry/update: 2012-04-18
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "With over 100,000 Burmese migrants living in Thailand, the educational needs of the community are significant. Since 2000, Planet Care/GHAP has supported Hsa Thoo Lei, a school and orphanage based in Mae Sot, Thailand. Hsa Thoo Lei began modestly in a small building with few resources and no salary for its teachers. Today, the facility includes a two-story school house and boarding home where 450 students from primary grades through high school receive their education. The boarding house cares for more than 150 migrant and orphaned children. In addition to teaching the prerequisites of the Thai educational system and Thai and English languages, Has Thoo Lei works to preserve the children?s Burmese heritage by teaching traditional languages, arts and culture."
Source/publisher: GHAP (Global Health Access Program)
Date of entry/update: 2008-12-20
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This site was developed by a group of people who would like to see more Burmese students obtain quality education abroad. This site was launched in March 2001 and this is free service. You are welcome to copy our information and share with as many people as you can. Whether you are currently in Burma/Myanmar or living abroad, we hope you will find this website useful."
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The Burma Volunteer Program (BVP) was founded in Thailand in January 2001 to bridge the gap between pro-democratic Burmese organizations looking for assistance and volunteers wishing to donate time and skills toward the creation of a democratic and just Burma. Since then, BVP has placed more than 400 volunteers whose duties have ranged from teaching English communication and social sciences to report writing and human rights documentation. BVP consistently has volunteer requests from various civil society groups along the Thailand-Burma border. The minimum commitment for volunteers is 3 months, and volunteers are required to attend a 3-day orientation in Mae Sot before starting their placement. Volunteer positions are non-remunerated. However, accommodation, 2-3 meals per day and local transport (where applicable) are provided throughout the placement. Volunteers are responsible for their own airfare, health insurance, personal costs and incurred travel expenses."
Source/publisher: Burma Volunteer Program
Date of entry/update: 2011-02-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "BMWEC is an umbrella organisation of 45 schools; 35 schools are located in Thailand for migrant children and 10 are in the IDP (Internally Displaced People) area inside Karen State. For the 2007-2008 school year we were able to provide 6221 children with schooling, from nursery to post ten programs. BMWEC is a Community Based Organisation working on the issue of Education for migrants children in the Northern Province of Tak in Thailand and in the IDP area (Internally Displaced People) within Burma. We work to help the communities of migrants fleeing from the dictatorship in Burma and its consequences. They flee political opression, economical disaster and more recently the devastation of cyclone Nargys and the deadly lack of reaction from the ruling military junta. They come from various groups, the Arakan, Karen, Shan, Mon and others from different states within the Union of Burma. These Burmese communities in Thailand are stateless, often unrecognised even as refugees. Like the people it tries to help, to date BMWEC itself remains an unregistered organisation, and so we ourselves are in a precarious situation in Thailand..."
Source/publisher: Burmese Migrant Workers Education Committee (BMWEC)
Date of entry/update: 2008-12-20
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Colabora Birmania is made up of a group of Spanish people who previously worked as volunteers in Mae Sot, Thailand. During our time over there, we witnessed the injustices and suffering of the Burmese refugees and exiles. We decided to stay on a permanent basis and establish Colabora Birmania to aid these unfortunate people
Source/publisher: Colabora Birmania
Date of entry/update: 2009-12-10
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: Espanol, Spanish, català, English
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Description: A well-organised website. Substantial content..... CONTENTS: Teacher Training... RWCT Workshops... RWCT Guidebooks... Migrants Learning Center... Children Learning Center... Year Report 2007... Education Papers... Edu and Demo – Eng... Edu and Demo - Bur... Presentation (video Eng)... Presentation (video Bur)... Funding... Who We Are... Photo Gallery.
Creator/author: Dr. Thein Lwin
Source/publisher: Education Burma
Date of entry/update: 2010-09-27
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Burmese
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Description: "Help without frontiers is a voluntary association. The objectives of the organization are to help the Burmese refugees. It was founded by some young and enthusiastic people who want to help, without geographic and also without mental frontiers. The primary objective of the organization is to alleviate the suffering of the Burmese refugees who have had to flee their homeland because of brutality and inhuman treatment carried out by the Burmese government. We are currently helping the refugees, mainly from the ethnic minority of the Karen, on the Thai-Burmese border near the city of Mae Sot which is located about 500km North West of Bangkok..."
Source/publisher: Help Without Frontiers
Date of entry/update: 2008-03-25
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Deutsch, German, Italian, Italiano
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Description: "Kick-Start Art is a non-profit community organization that provides art classes and creative platforms to migrant children along the Thai-Burmese (Myanmar) border. We also offer sustainable employment to local artists. Kids. Art. Jobs. There?s a lot to love about Kick-Start ART. Check out the menu tabs for a summary of our activities and visit us on Facebook for more pictures and updates. - Happy Creating!..."
Source/publisher: Kick-Start ART
Date of entry/update: 2014-09-21
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: School project for Burmese refugee kids in Thailand...Videos and several hundred photos of the Light School
Source/publisher: Light School -- Mae Sot
Date of entry/update: 2009-01-16
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Deutsch, German
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Description: Link to the OBL Migrant section
Source/publisher: Online Burma/Myanmar Library
Date of entry/update: 2012-04-23
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Nathaniel and Susan Tileston worked as professional photographers in Chicago and New York for 20 + years before moving to Nova Scotia in 1982. There they ran a bed and breakfast for 16 years while Susan worked as the director of the Annapolis Region Community Arts Council and Nathaniel continued doing assignments for several clients, including Parks Canada. If you?d like to read about the further adventures of Nathaniel and Susan, please click on the Brief History of the Tilestons? page.
Source/publisher: My Story Photo Project
Date of entry/update: 2014-09-21
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Includes details of the Light School -- Alternative Education (School for Children) and Community Development for Displaced Children and Migrants? Workers? Children along the Thai - Burma border in Mae Sot, Thailand, as well as an emerging project for an Alternative School for Children in China-Burma Border
Source/publisher: Peoples Partner for Development and Democracy
Date of entry/update: 2010-09-17
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: AUNG SAN SUU KYI APPEALS FOR PROSPECT BURMA: "The future of my country lies in the hands of the younger generation. Under the present military government the whole educational system is neglected and higher education is virtually non-existent with the frequent closure and repressive control of the universities. Prospect Burma is a non-political charity which does its best to fill the gap. It funds scholarships for young Burmese, most of whom have been forced to look for their education abroad. It arranges training and educational courses in Thailand and elsewhere. I warmly commend it?s work to you, and hope that you might be able to offer it financial help." - Aung San Suu Kyi
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The Puzzlebox Art Studio is a social enterprise created by Youth Connect. We are a mentorship program providing training and income generation for talented young adults in Mae Sot, Thailand, on the Thai-Burma border. Our mission is to encourage community integration through art whilst helping our young artists get on the path to independent employment..."
Source/publisher: Puzzlebox Art Studio/Youth Connect
Date of entry/update: 2015-01-13
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "...To support the needs of Shan State youth and children and to operate as a communication center, Shan students and other Shan youth who were working in Thailand founded Shan Youth Power (SYP) in August 5, 2002. Owing to systematic human rights abuses, including mass killings, rape, forced labor, and forced relocation committed by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in Burma, many Shan people in Shan State have been fleeing to Thailand and along Thai-Burma border. No refugee camp is provided for Shan as a shelter. They have to live in different places throughout Thailand and work in low-paying jobs due to their lack of legal status and education. For this reason, SYP undertook to help these Shan migrants and IDPs. For the first three years of SYP’s existence, all of the members worked as volunteers for the empowerment of Shan youths..."
Creator/author: Shan Youth Power
Source/publisher: Shan Youth Power Website
00-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-11
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
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Description: Support to Health, Information, Education, and leadership in Policy Dialogue ...World Education Thailand works to support access to quality education for Burmese migrants, refugees, and displaced persons. Under the SHIELD project World Education Thailand works to develop capacity, provide resource support, and empower communities and their education systems. To carry out this strategy World Education Thailand: * Develops curricula and teaching materials. * Gives monetary and material support through emergency aid and sub-grants. * Trains teachers, school directors, community based organization staffs, and parents of school children. World Education Thailand works in the following provinces: * Mae Hong Son * Chiang Mai * Chiang Rai * Tak
Source/publisher: World Education, Thailand
Date of entry/update: 2010-09-17
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The idea for Youth Connect was sparked in late 2007 after Patrick Kearns and a team of researchers investigated youth employment in Mae Sot. After conducting more than 380 interviews with employers, students, parents, school and government officials over the course of three months, the team came back with the following conclusions: * Businesses in Mae Sot needed more reliable, trained employees. * Youths in Mae Sot needed more opportunities for quality employment. * Youth did not have the skills or qualifications to access higher-quality jobs – especially basic math, Thai language and life skills. * There was a lack of decent jobs for youth in Mae Sot without these skill sets... Five months later, Patrick founded Youth Connect with funding from Child?s Dream. Using the findings from the research, Youth Connect moved forward with a mission to tackle each of these problems with a comprehensive new program. Transitions addresses all of these issues by serving as a bridge between the employers and youths, offering educational and vocational training opportunities. The Transitions program is a four-pronged approach, offering in-school training in math, Thai and life skills, 9-week intensive trainings leading up to 3-month apprenticeships, a career center and job opportunities. For more information about the program, visit our Transitions Program page... Since its inception, Youth Connect has seen remarkable growth in staff and clients served. In its first year, Youth Connect served 53 students; in its third, it served about 300. Youth Connect?s initial staff of 5 has quadrupled to 20 in three years, as well. Meet Youth Connect?s students and staff... Volunteers also serve Youth Connect?s students by offering administrative support, short courses and English classes. Join our team today!"
Source/publisher: Youth Connect
Date of entry/update: 2011-09-08
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Karen language education is still strong in the Thai-Myanmar border regions. There are currently over 130,000 children being educated in Karen schools operated in Myanmar by the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Karen Refugee Council (KRC) in Thailand. These schools are taking advantage of mother tongue-based principles of literacy, which emphasize that literacy starts with the home language. Since the 1980s at least a million people have completed the basic Karen curriculum focused on Karen literacy, with many of those continuing to secondary and post-secondary education where programs are taught in Karen and English. Karen language education continues despite the marginalization of Karen schools in Myanmar since Ne Win’s 1962 coup. At that time, Karen schools in the Delta Region were replaced with Burmese language schools from the Burmese Ministry of Education. Since then Karen systems of education have remained strong in border areas outside control of the government. Indeed, Karen programs may have even strengthened after many government-funded schools were shuttered following the emergence of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in 2021. Karen education is strong because, in part, it moved into Thailand, where schools continue both in refugee camps, and in migrant schools. The Karen language instruction in Thailand is typically organized by the KRC, which also provides support to schools still operated by the KNU inside Myanmar. The Karen schools in both places reflect Karen education traditions inherited from the Karen schools in Burma, which began in the 19th century. They do this while using teaching techniques and pedagogy adapted from the West, which train students to be “critical thinkers” for a Karen democracy. Development since the 1840s Karen education actually began in the 1840s with the development of modern Karen literacy, the establishment of a printing press, and the emergence of schooling. The earliest efforts were in the Irrawaddy River Delta and Rangoon (now Yangon). This led to a rapid expansion of the Karen school systems over the following decades. Karen and English language programs flourished around the large Christian mission compound in Bassein (Pathein, the capital of Ayeyarwady Region) in the Irrawaddy River Delta, as well as in Rangoon. Baptist Mission primary schools among Karen were first opened by American Baptist missionaries in 1852 at Bassein. A Karen secondary school was opened in Koesue in 1854. The Karen Baptist Theological Seminary was already established in 1845 in Rangoon to train pastors literate in Karen and English. The Bassein Sgaw Karen Normal and Industrial Institute taught English, Bible, Mathematics, Geography, History and Health, along with 19th-century vocational subjects like carpentry, joinery, wheelwrighting and rice production. There is no indication that Burmese language was a medium in the Karen schools, except as a subject. After 1962, Karen schools declined when Ne Win’s government nationalized the Karen schools, and insisted on a “Burmanized” curriculum emphasizing Burmese language, history, and nationalism. Karen teachers trained in Karen Teacher Colleges were replaced with Burmese-speaking teachers trained in government colleges. Mother tongue-based Karen language instruction moved into the highlands, where independent schools were re-established by the KNU. After 1984 Karen schooling also moved into refugee camps in Thailand supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and international NGOs. Independent Karen school systems emerge The KNU resisted Burmanization by establishing their own schools. The education systems they established favored, preserved and reproduced Karen language and culture under difficult circumstances. In this fashion, Karen education survived, even as Karen education declined in the Irrawaddy Delta and the capital, Rangoon. This did not stop Myanmar’s military from trying to spread their control into the mountains. In 1995-96 the KNU capital at Manerplaw was captured. The Karen Education Department (KED) continued to operate schools inside Burma, even as the Karen Refugee Committee—Education Entity (KRC-EE) based in Mae Sot, Thailand, became more important. Ironically this strengthened the Karen schooling system because it put the school system into contact with international organizations interested in educational reform. Once established in the 1990s, the KRC-EE reevaluated how modern pedagogical approaches would be used effectively. Young Karen teachers studied these techniques in the United States, Australia and Canada, and then returned to implement programs in the refugee encampments and in Mae Sot. The programs were successful, and soon refugee schools received not only Karen students from KNU controlled areas of Myanmar, but also ethnic students from Yangon, Ayeyarwady and Tanintharyi seeking a Karen and English media curriculum. Karen education in the border region today The KRC’s Education Entity developed the Karen curriculum by adapting the older KNU-KED curriculum, which in turn, was based on the Karen curricula developed in 19th-century Burma. The primary and secondary curriculum lasted 12 years. Notably, this is longer than Myanmar’s system, which lasts 10 years. Pedagogical techniques emphasizing critical thinking were introduced in a post-secondary training system which emphasizes secular teacher training, and the development of church leaders. The refugee camp schools had a simple advantage in the development of Karen education because they were not subject to attacks by the Myanmar military, as were the schools in Myanmar itself. Refugee school curriculum Since 2008, the refugee camps’ education system has been standardized with new curricula designed and supported by Karen education stakeholders and international nongovernmental organizations. The KRC Education Entity curriculum adopted student-centered pedagogy to replace the rote learning methods traditionally used in Burma. Karen is the medium of the schools, and English is taught as a subject beginning at the primary school level. Consistent with mother tongue-based education principles, the Burmese language is taught as a subject but not as a teaching medium. The Thai language is also occasionally taught in some schools as an elective. The Karen leaders in the camps encourage Burmese language, but not surprisingly, most young refugee students resist learning the Burmese language, which is viewed as a tool of domination. In 2015 KED published an education policy with the following four basic principles. Notably, it leaves out references to national boundaries, but reflects values found in many national and statewide curricula around the world. *Every Karen shall learn his own literature and language. *Every Karen shall be acquainted with Karen history. *The Karen culture, customs and traditions shall be promoted. *Our own Karen culture, customs and traditions shall be made to be respected by the other ethnic nationalities, and the cultures, customs and traditions of the other ethnic nationalities shall mutually be recognized and respected. At all levels, Karen history, literature, poetry and world history are taught. Sensitive subject Karen history is perhaps the most sensitive subject taught from the Burmese perspective. Karen history describes how the Bamar culture and its kings dominated and enslaved the Karen before the arrival of the British. The British arrival in the 19th century is described in the Karen history books as a liberation from Burmese domination, which permitted the re-emergence of indigenous Karen culture. In contrast, Burmese history, first created by Ne Win’s Education Ministry, teaches that the Karen are rebels and a threat to national unity, particularly in the context of the highly centralized government structures insisted upon after 1962. Burmese history textbooks refer to Britain as an external enemy that sought to destroy the country and describes the British as imperialists, collaborators and as “stooges.” Karen history textbooks teach about the positive legacy of the British parliamentary system, and the American education system on which the missionaries first based the Karen education system. In addition to Karen being the medium of instruction in primary schools there are other contrasts. A few examples from the Karen curriculum. Karen poetry (Hta)—Karen poetry is studied from Grade 6–8 in the Karen subject. The writing style of the Karen essay is studied, drawing from Karen Hta literary styles. Beginning in Grade 8, the varieties of Karen Hta and its interpretation are reviewed. In Grade 9 and 10 of the Karen subject, different classifications of Karen Hta and its history are studied. Aung San—General Aung San is not specifically mentioned in the Karen history curriculum and is mentioned only in a brief history of the Burmese revolutionary movement. The conflict between the Burmese Independence Army (BIA) commanded by General Aung San and the Karen during World War II is described in Grade 7 History, including the massacres of Karen undertaken by combined Japanese and BIA forces. Saw Ba U Gyi—Saw Ba U Gyi is studied in Karen school in Grade 6 and Grade 10 as the national hero and father of the Karen nation. In Grade 6, Saw Ba U Gyi’s biography is also studied in both Burmese and Karen subjects. Saw Ba U Gyi’s own writing is studied in Grade 10 and 11 in Karen History. Since Saw Ba U Gyi’s writing was originally in English, the Grade 10 and 11 materials about him are taught in English. Religious diversity—This is studied in grades 6, 7, 9 and 10 of Social Studies. In grades 6, 7 and 9, it is studied in the Karen language, and English in Grade 10 is in English. The importance of religion and the religious diversity of Burma, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are studied. A shared consciousness has emerged among Karen crossing international boundaries “rhizomatically,” as refugees grew up in the camps and in the diaspora, including many who have no personal memories of Myanmar. Ironically, refugee children born in the temporary camps consider the Karen diaspora and Kawthoolei their nation, even if such a place exists on no international maps. In this context, the Karen language thrives. The popular Karen-language film and music production scene serves Karen youth and has a substantial audience on YouTube and other social media. The persistence of Karen education in the highlands of course creates a conundrum for any future Myanmar government seeking peace. The divergence of the Karen, Burmese and Thai curricula long ago created what social scientists call a “national consciousness” among the Karen of the Thai-Myanmar border region. This consciousness is about their identity as a people, and presumes a level of cultural and political autonomy. Talks about federalism in past decades assumed this autonomy, but of course negotiations were unsuccessful. So there remain tensions between the 130,000-plus children being educated in Karen-medium schools, their families, and the demand of Myanmar’s Bamar-dominated military government for one disciplined nation under military control..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2023-04-24
Date of entry/update: 2023-04-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Bangladesh’s government must urgently take steps to support the community-led learning facilities in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and strengthen their resources in line with the country’s international commitment to protect children’s right to education, 25 undersigned organizations said in a statement today. About 30 community-led schools have been shut down or dismantled by the authorities since December 2021. The closure of community learning facilities in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh is detrimental to the community’s development and a gross violation of children’s right to education which puts them at the risk of becoming a lost generation. Nearly half a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are children, who constitute 52% of the refugees registered in the camps. They have been deprived of access to education in an accredited curriculum since they sought refuge in Bangladesh in August 2017. In January 2020, Bangladesh’s government made a promise to introduce the Myanmar curriculum for about 10,000 children from grades six to nine. The Rohingya community has been offering education to their children through the community schools due to a delay in the rollout of the program by more than two years since Bangladesh’s government announced its plan. Rohingya refugees said that some schoolteachers were detained by the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) and released in exchange of signing a paper with the condition that they will stop teaching. “It is not a crime to teach students and show them the right path of life. It is a basic human right,” said a Rohingya community teacher. Rights groups have documented allegations against authorities threatening refugees with confiscating their refugee identification cards and relocation to the remote Bhasan Char island if they violate the ban on operating or attending community-led schools. Access to education and other human rights of the Rohingya refugees are as critical as the battle is for justice and accountability for the crimes committed against the Rohingya people. It is pivotal for their right to voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return to their homes in Myanmar. “All that the community want is the formal education that will be useful to continue studying in Myanmar,” said a Rohingya youth, whose identity is being withheld for his safety. Education is one of the most important activities that can keep the Rohingya population away from being exploited by harmful groups including child traffickers, drug smugglers, armed groups, and others who sense opportunity in people’s misery. It is pivotal to empower the Rohingya refugees to claim their rights and speak for themselves. Loss of critical academic years is not only depriving the community of their educational development but also increasing their dependency on uncertain humanitarian aid. The existing learning centres authorized by the government and operated by UNICEF and other humanitarian partners offer education to children from four to 14 years of age. The program leaves out the older age groups, some of whom were about to take their matriculation examination at the time of the exodus in 2017. The undersigned 25 organizations call on Bangladesh’s government to: Ensure access to education for all Rohingya children by building capacity for all learning facilities within the refugee camps including by granting legal status to community schools in line with their international commitments; Immediately re-open all community schools and put a stop to all harassment, threats and attacks against refugees, avoid any discriminatory policies that affect the right to education of Rohingya children in Bangladesh; Put an end to the crackdown on community-led schools and Rohingya refugees for operating them; Launch prompt, transparent, impartial and independent investigation into the allegations against members of law enforcement agencies for detaining Rohingya refugees and authorities threatening them with forced relocation to Bhasan Char island for operating schools; Establish and strengthen government infrastructure to provide complete access to education to Rohingya population. Ensure that any vacancies are filled by individuals with knowledge and commitment to integrating Rohingya culture and practices into the teaching modules. The organizations also call on the United Nations and the international community to: Urgently engage with Bangladesh’s government to raise concerns about the closure of community-led schools in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and provide support to education for all children in the camps and elsewhere; Offer assistance to build capacity for all learning facilities within the refugee camps including community schools with regards to access to teaching materials, teachers and learning spaces; Allocate adequate and specific funds towards and implement education programmes and projects as part of a comprehensive and long-term commitment to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
2022-04-28
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "As the Rohingya crisis approaches its fifth year, Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Kelly T. Clements, called for continued international support for Rohingya refugees, and the government and people of Bangladesh. She reiterated UNHCR’s commitment towards voluntary repatriation and other solutions, while underlining the need to build resilience and invest in refugees’ capacities in preparation for a future safe and voluntary return to Myanmar. The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly T. Clements and UNHCR Director for Asia and the Pacific Indrika Ratwatte undertook a joint visit to Bangladesh from 13 to 18 February, which included visits to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar where some one million Rohingya refugees reside, as well as to the island of Bhasan Char, and meetings with senior Government officials, local and international partners. Throughout their visit, the Deputy High Commissioner and Director for Asia and the Pacific reiterated their sincere appreciation to the Government and people of Bangladesh for hosting Rohingya refugees who have sought protection from violence and persecution in Myanmar. They emphasized the need to continue working towards voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar while also advocating for a broader longer-term focus on education, skills development and livelihoods. The delegation spoke with refugees to understand their needs and challenges, and the contributions they wish to make to their own future. “While refugees clearly express a desire to return home, they also feel their lives would be at risk if they did so today. Therefore, we also need to start working towards other solutions while redoubling efforts to provide access to education, skills training and livelihood opportunities for them and their generous host communities,” said Deputy High Commissioner Clements. “The strong work of refugee volunteers throughout the pandemic ­– often as first responders – and support for their communities in the camps highlighted not only their dedication and capacity, but the opportunity to incorporate those skills into more innovative initiatives such as environmental protection,” observed Mr. Ratwatte. “Providing youth with more learning opportunities, tools and skills will allow them to build peaceful communities and contribute to a safe environment.” Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Government and UNHCR officials noted the positive strides to support the Bangladeshi communities hosting refugees, which includes the establishment of COVID and other specialized health facilities in Cox’s Bazar town and Ukhiya upazila, as well as the first large-scale water provision and distribution scheme in southern Teknaf that will provide safe water to more than 225,000 people. On their first visit to Bhasan Char, the delegation recognized the positive work being done by the Government and local civil society partners on the island. “Bhasan Char has the potential to become a temporary stay for the Rohingya refugees, and there has been clear improvement in the conditions and availability of services since UNHCR and UN partners began supporting the Government in October. However, its sustainability will depend on scaling up health and education services, improving access to livelihoods and income generating activities, and above all, continuing to ensure the voluntariness of relocations to the island and regular family visits to and from the mainland,” said Ms. Clements. With return to Myanmar unlikely in the immediate future, the visit underscored the need for a more comprehensive approach to humanitarian support. This includes alternative solutions for Rohingya refugees such as resettlement to third countries for the most vulnerable with specific protection needs, and complementary pathways overseas which could include employment and educational opportunities. UNHCR reaffirmed its commitment to continue to support both Bangladeshi and Rohingya communities, while calling on the international community to stand by the Government and people of Bangladesh until the situation in Myanmar allows for a safe, dignified, and sustainable return..."
Source/publisher: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva)
2022-02-18
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Tens of Thousands of Students Will Lose Access to Education
Description: "The Bangladesh government should urgently reverse a decision to close thousands of home-based and community-led schools for Rohingya refugee students, Human Rights Watch said today. Unless the foreign minister or the disaster management minister overturns the action, approximately 30,000 children will lose their access to education. The decision was issued on December 13, 2021 by the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, a Bangladesh government official responsible for education policy in the refugee camps where about 400,000 school-age children are confined. Four Rohingya teachers and two community leaders confirmed the school closures, but said no rationale was provided. Humanitarian workers said they had no warning of the decision or ability to provide alternatives. “Bangladesh’s decision to close schools for Rohingya refugee children violates the right to education on a massive scale,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “This cruel decision should be immediately reversed so that Rohingya children can get an education, which will be especially critical for their return to Myanmar when it is safe to do so.” The Bangladesh government saved countless lives when it opened its borders to ethnic Rohingya fleeing atrocity crimes by Myanmar’s military in August 2017. However, as part of a policy to prevent refugees from integrating in the country, the authorities barred Rohingya children’s access to public and private schools. They also severely restricted the education programs that humanitarian groups could provide inside the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, near the Myanmar border. Now the alternative schools inside the camps are at risk. The government’s 19-point decision, effective immediately, states that “home-based learning center[s] will be closed.” At these centers, set up in people’s shelters, humanitarian groups supported by international donor funding provide non-formal lessons that have been approved by the Bangladesh government. Roughly 22,000 Rohingya children are currently enrolled in the home-based centers, according to humanitarian groups. Another 92,000 students attend approved non-formal lessons at small, one-story bamboo “learning centers” outside people’s homes, which teach three daily shifts of just two hours per shift, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. The decision also orders that “all private learning center[s] must be shut down,” referring to community-led schools established by Rohingya refugee volunteer-teachers. These schools have enrolled about 10,000 children and teach the formal Myanmar curriculum, but are not officially approved. These schools have not received any support from humanitarian donors and charge minimal if any fees to cover basic learning materials. Bangladesh camp authorities had closed one of these unauthorized schools, with more than 400 students, on October 14, a teacher at the school said. But the community-led schools are the basis of a p lan, which the Bangladesh government supports, to allow Rohingya to study the formal Myanmar curriculum. Humanitarian workers said that the home-based schools are “essential” to access learning and psychosocial support, and that approximately 84 percent of the students are girls. They said the community-led schools are especially crucial for adolescents, who are too old to attend the officially approved lessons at the learning centers and have few other education options. Together, these schools had provided the only education accessible to Rohingya children during the 18 months when the authorities had closed learning centers as part of restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, until the government partially lifted the closure on September 22. Bangladesh authorities closed at least two community-led Rohingya schools with hundreds of students on December 13. In one camp, the assistant camp-in-charge – a Bangladesh official – and police officers arrived and closed a school with 800 students and seized all the furniture and education materials “without asking a single question,” a teacher said. The authorities also seized a teacher’s UN-issued identity document, which they have yet to return. At a school in another camp, a teacher with 50 students said that a Rohingya community leader, told him that the camp-in-charge had instructed community leaders, or majhis, to inform all teachers they had to stop teaching immediately. “I was surprised,” the teacher said. “These kids are at least studying, otherwise they do not have anything to do and their future would just be ruined.” Two community leaders in different camps said that Bangladesh camp authorities had instructed them to provide lists of community-led Rohingya schools and teachers, and to instruct these teachers to close their schools. “I was instructed to make a list of private schools, and teachers teaching at those schools,” one community leader said. “[The authorities] follow up with us.” Education staff at humanitarian groups said that officially approved learning centers could not accommodate the students forced to drop out of the home-based and community schools set to be closed. “The impact could be huge, and this decision might not leave any way for these students to integrate into Myanmar society if they are able to return,” one aid worker said. The Bangladesh decision also orders that the Myanmar national anthem “must be played daily on each shift at every learning center.” It prohibits teaching Rohingya children “how to draw the national flag of Bangladesh, how to write and speak in Bangla, and most important, the national culture of Bangladesh.” While the decision provides no explanation for these orders, staff at two international humanitarian agencies said that they believed the orders were related to a recent visit to a learning center by two Bangladesh officials who asked Rohingya children, “What is your country?” The children replied, “Bangladesh,” and drew pictures of Bangladesh’s flag, they said. Human Rights Watch could not independently confirm their account. “Foreign donors and the United Nations have for more than four years quietly tried to persuade the Bangladesh government to stop blocking Rohingya children’s education,” Van Esveld said. “A stronger, more coordinated effort is needed so that Bangladesh reverses its outright harmful policy to deny education to a generation of children who have no more time to lose.”..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
2021-12-18
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "SITUATION OVERVIEW Under the leadership of the Government of Bangladesh, the humanitarian community continued providing lifesaving assistance and support to Rohingya refugees and members of the vulnerable host community in an increasingly resource-strained environment. The COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the effects of devastating monsoon rains, has exacerbated suffering and humanitarian needs. The emergency health response was scaled up according to the rising trends of COVID-19 cases in the refugee camps and host communities, while increases in cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) required a simultaneous multi-sectoral response. In end-July, flash floods and landslides battered the camps, tragically causing six fatalities and affecting thousands of refugees. It is the second year in a row that the monsoon season was preceded by a period of reduced preparedness and disaster risk reduction activities due to COVID19 lockdown restrictions, contributing to a need for a more robust emergency response. In line with a strict national COVID-19 lockdown, humanitarian activities in the camps were delivered at drastically reduced levels. Thousands of Rohingya refugee and host community volunteers worked tirelessly to deliver the most critical services in the response with COVID-19 prevention measures in place. However, the humanitarian community remained concerned by the deterioration of the overall protection environment in the camps; the need for reliable access to services including case management, psychosocial support and referrals, particularly in response to cases of gender-based violence and child protection issues, remained as critical as ever. Despite these vast challenges, preparations for the upcoming launch of the COVID-19 vaccination for Rohingya refugees -- a demonstration of equity and inclusiveness as part of the Government’s National Deployment and Vaccination Plan -- brought hope for vulnerable Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher: Inter Sector Coordination Group via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2021-09-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 881.05 KB
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Description: "... The MAP foundation works to bridge the gap between education policy and pratice in Thai-land. Here are the stories of some of the migrant children that Map supports. Their families face, the obstacles they have had to overcome and their dreams for the future. There are 7 stories of migrant students who received scholarship from MAP foundation..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: MAP Foundation
2019-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : http://www.mapfoundationcm.org/eng/index.php/works-wrapper/publications/creating-a-better-future
Size: 31.1 MB
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Description: "In 2020, UNICEF will enter a major new phase for education of Rohingya refugee children living in camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, together with other humanitarian actors. Following a landmark decision by the Government of Bangladesh, UNICEF will further expand access to education by introducing the Myanmar curriculum on a pilot basis in the first half of the year. The pilot will initially target 10,000 Rohingya students from grades six to nine. It will then be expanded to other grades in a phased manner. The pilot targets older children, who currently have less access to education compared with their younger counterparts. “Education takes people from the darkness and brings them into the light. “What drives me is the students’ ambition to learn,” said Rozina Aktar, a teacher for level 4 students. Rohingya community’s desire for new curriculum The introduction of the pilot follows the wishes of the Rohingya refugees and builds hope for their future by giving then access to education based on the Myanmar curriculum. It will also help Rohingya children reintegrate into the Myanmar education system and society when conditions become conducive for them to return to Myanmar in a voluntary, safe and dignified way. 315,000 children and adolescents study at over 3,200 learning centres UNICEF currently provides informal education opportunities to 220,000 Rohingya children aged 4 to14 years based on a tailor-made curriculum called the Learning Competency Framework and Approach (LCFA). However, the majority of children (over 90 per cent) are learning LCFA levels 1 and 2, the equivalent of preprimary level up to grade 2 in a formal school system. Few Rohingya students have enough learning to study at the higher levels (LCFA levels 3 and 4), equivalent of grades 3 to 8, due to the poor status of their education in Rakhine State in Myanmar..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
2020-02-10
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: Change of heart by Bangladesh government is greeted enthusiastically by refugee advocates
Description: "Rohingya children living in Bangladesh refugee camps will be allowed to receive a formal education after a change of heart by Dhaka, in a move welcomed by rights activists. Nearly one million Rohingya, including more than half a million children, live in the squalid and crowded camps near the southeastern border with Myanmar, whence many had fled in 2017 after a brutal military crackdown. The children were previously barred from studying the curriculua used in Bangladesh and Myanmar, and instead received primary education in temporary learning centers set up by the UN children’s agency UNICEF. “We don’t want a lost generation of Rohingya. We want them to have education. They will follow Myanmar curricula,” Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told AFP on Tuesday. The decision came after a meeting of a national task force set up by the government. Local media reported that a pilot program involving more than 10,000 students would be launched soon, with UNICEF and Dhaka jointly designing the curriculum. The refugee children will be schooled in Myanmar history and culture up to age 14, and will also receive skills training so they can take up jobs back in Myanmar when they return home, the foreign ministry said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-01-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: Refugees in Cox’s Bazar complain the international aid community does not utilise their experience and say the lack of education risks creating a ‘lost generation’
Description: "In a tea room just outside Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps, a group of young activists fiddle with their phones, which have suddenly started pinging in chorus now they are finally reconnected to the internet. To circumvent a government internet blackout around the camps in Cox’s Bazar, they have to break a ban on travelling to nearby Bangladeshi towns, from where they can communicate and coordinate messages for the international community. With simple smartphones the activists have been able to build some kind of Rohingya voice, speaking to the world through WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. But their efforts have often been frustrated, mostly for a more fundamental reason than the technological barrier in place since August: they believe the aid community sent to help them is not listening. “The Rohingya community are not weak, but the situation makes us weak,” says Mohammad Arfaat, an activist who was part of a Rohingya team that made a short film about how violence had forced them from Myanmar in 2017. He has been calling for more help for Rohingya to launch their own initiatives, for everything from education to arts, but complains there has been no support. “The Rohingya youth are very talented … but nobody sits, nobody talks with them, so their voices have stopped,” says Arfaat..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2020-02-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Topic: Rohingya, refugees, children, education, Bangladesh, UNICEF
Topic: Rohingya, refugees, children, education, Bangladesh, UNICEF
Description: " Rohingya children living in Bangladesh refugee camps will be allowed to receive a formal education after a change of heart by Dhaka in a move welcomed by right activists. Nearly one million Rohingya, including more than half a million children, live in the squalid and crowded camps near the southeastern border with Myanmar, where many had fled from in 2017 after a brutal military crackdown. The children were previously barred from studying the curriculums used in Bangladesh and Myanmar, and instead received primary education in temporary learning centres set up by the UN children's agency UNICEF. "We don't want a lost generation of Rohingya. We want them to have education. They will follow Myanmar curricula," Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told AFP on Tuesday. Support more independent journalism like this. Sign up to be a Frontier member. The decision came after a meeting of a national taskforce set up by the government. Local media reported that a pilot programme involving more than 10,000 students would be launched soon, with UNICEF and Dhaka jointly designing the curriculum. The refugee children will be schooled in Myanmar history and culture up to age 14, and will also receive skills training so they can take up jobs back in Myanmar when they return home, the foreign ministry said. "I can't express my joy with words ... generations of Rohingya hardly had any education in their homeland in Myanmar as they were discriminated there and were robbed of their citizenship," Rohingya youth leader and human rights activist Rafique bin Habib said..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
2020-01-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: Children aged 11-13 will be first to benefit as government eases long-standing restrictions in effort to avoid ‘lost generation’
Description: "Bangladesh has confirmed it will lift restrictions on education for young Rohingya refugees, easing bans in place since the existing camps were established 30 years ago. The government’s move to allow schooling for children aged 11-13 has been widely welcomed by activists and teachers. “We don’t want a lost generation of Rohingya. We want them to have education. They will follow Myanmar curricula,” the country’s foreign minister, AK Abdul Momen, told reporters on Tuesday. A statement put out by the UN on behalf of “the UN and humanitarian community” praised the decision. “We believe this is a positive step and a clear indication of the commitment by the government of Bangladesh to ensure access to learning for Rohingya children and adolescents, as well as to equip them with the right skills and capacities for their future and return to Myanmar when the conditions allow,” it read. “In line with the government’s decision, the education sector for the humanitarian response in Cox’s Bazar now plans to pilot the introduction of the Myanmar curriculum in the Rohingya refugee camps starting in April, initially targeting 10,000 Rohingya students in grades six to nine. The use of the Myanmar curriculum will be expanded to other grades in a phased manner.” More than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in 2017 after Myanmar’s military carried out a series of operations that the UN described as having “genocidal intent” against the minority, taking the total refugee population in Bangladesh to almost a million..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2020-01-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Children have a right to learn and a right to an education that will support their development, growth and ability to build their future. This right to an education does not end in times of emergency. In fact, it is even more essential that children who have escaped conflict and witnessed atrocities should have access to the safe haven of schools and learning opportunities. Such children need a space to be with peers, play and learn, a space where their parents know they are safe. The impact of this space, and the stability and routine it offers, where children can grow, learn and simply be children cannot be overstated. Many Rohingya children had their lives interrupted, the ground beneath their feet ripped from under them, as they fled horrific violence in their home country more than two years ago. Education can counter this chaos, providing at least some stable ground where these children can plant their feet – ground on which they can begin to recover and rebuild. This is why a recent announcement by the Bangladeshi government is immeasurably important. This week it announced that it will provide Rohingya refugee children with access to expanded education opportunities including skills training, based on the Myanmar curriculum. Not only is this an essential first step toward giving Rohingya children back some of the stability they have lost since being forced to flee to Bangladesh, it also prepares them to reintegrate back into Myanmar society when they are able to return in a safe, voluntary and dignified manner..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-02-01
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Bangladesh government has announced it will offer schooling and skills training opportunities to Rohingya refugee children, two and a half years after they were forced to flee crimes against humanity in Myanmar. Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have been campaigning for the nearly half a million Rohingya children in Bangladesh’s refugee camps to be allowed to enjoy their right to quality education, warning of the costs of a ‘lost generation’. “This is an important and very positive commitment by the Bangladeshi government, allowing children to access schooling and chase their dreams for the future. They have lost two academic years already and cannot afford to lose any more time outside a classroom,” said Saad Hammadi, South Asia Campaigner at Amnesty International. “It is important that access to appropriate, accredited and quality education be extended to all children in the Cox’s Bazar area, including Rohingya refugees and the host community. The international community has a key role to play here in ensuring the Bangladesh government has the resources it needs to realize this goal.” Up to now, the Bangladesh government had resisted calls to grant Rohingya refugee children access to education, limiting learning opportunities to a few provisional learning centres that offer playtime and early primary school lessons scattered across the refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar district. A few children who managed to gain access to local secondary schools were expelled on the government’s instructions..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2020-01-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "...MAP Multi-Media supports all projects at MAP to produce communication materials in migrant languages to disseminate information to migrant communities on issues of policies, laws, rights, and health. The media formats used include MAP’s two community radio stations at Chiang Mai and Mae Sot, printed materials, audio and video, websites and social media.... This magazine contents are Thai policy "Education for All", other important policy for education, student experience, funding for migrant education..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: MAP Foundation
2007-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : PDF
Size: 3.43 MB
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Description: "...Fifteen years ago, a widespread scorched earth campaign set Shan State on fire. In the late 1990s, Burma‘s military regime systematically destroyed the landscape and livelihoods of their country‘s largest and most ethnically diverse state uprooting over three hundred thousand people. The children born into these ―Hell Years,‖ as one of our students calls them, grew up in a political inferno, encountering war and suffering human rights violations during their most formative years. Surviving these circumstances fueled their motivation to join the struggle for democracy in their homeland, but also left them unsure of their role in a mature movement. While they are too young to remember the student uprisings of 1988, these students are of an age in which they have experienced the aftermath of government-sponsored terror and oppression. They are old enough realize that for their country to change, the citizens must be empowered through education. That was the inspiration for this collection of stories.This book is evidence of these students‘ transformations from victims of government abuse to activists for change. The 10th SJEP graduates are joining the hundreds of other SSSNY alumni already working in communities in Shan State and on the ThaiBurma border, bringing hope to the people they represent. While security requirements necessitate that identities be kept secret, their photos and stories explain how this group would like to be seen—as plants that sprouted from a scorched land, as eager students who are developing into powerful champions of justice, freedom, and peace..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: School for Shan State Nationalities Youth (SSSNY)
2011-10-00
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : PDF
Size: 3.4 MB
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Sub-title: The world needs to stop viewing us as victims and help us gain the tools we need to forge a new path for Myanmar
Description: "In the summer of 2012, when a particularly gruesome episode of anti-Rohingya violence erupted in the capital city of Myanmar's Rakhine state, Sittwe, I was a second-year physics student at the town's university. Sittwe's Buddhist residents were attacking Rohingya homes and businesses with makeshift weapons. Soldiers, who had allegedly been sent to the town to help bring an end to the violence, were shooting at the Rohingya with live ammunition. As a young Rohingya Muslim, I knew that if I went outside I would be tortured and killed either by angry Buddhist mobs or military troops. So, I hid inside my dormitory room. After spending a week in hiding without any food or other supplies, I was informed by the immigration authority that I was no longer a student - I was banned from Sittwe University and denied an education as a result of the racial segregation plan Myanmar authorities imposed in the name of "keeping the peace". A few days later, I was forcibly sent back to my hometown, Maungdaw, which is situated in Rakhine state, near Myanmar's border with Bangladesh. But I did not find safety there either. Security forces were regularly raiding Rohingya homes and dragging away anyone they found inside. They were specifically targeting the young and the educated who they viewed as a threat to their authority. We later found the dead bodies of some of the abducted, while others are missing to this day..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-12-31
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Both Bangladesh and the international community must share the responsibility of educating all the children of both the host community and the Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar, Amnesty International has said. The Global Refugee Forum, which is being hosted by the UN’s refugee agency in Geneva and takes place from December 16-18, has made education one of its six key themes. More than half a million children have yet to see the inside of a classroom since they arrived in the refugee camps for more than two years ago, Amnesty International said issuing a press release on Friday, ahead of the first Global Refugee Forum. “The Rohingya children in the camps in Cox’s Bazar must not become a lost generation. The international community must accept that 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..."
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
2019-12-14
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Voices of children playing resonate in the courtyard of a Thai monastery. The children are not outside, but their voices emanate from the window in the main building on the second floor.
Description: "The building is a classroom, and the children are wearing school uniforms – green pants, white shirts. Some of the students clasp their hands together with the traditional “wai”, and say “Sah-Wah-Dee Khrap” as one. Many of the children are fluent in Thai, but none of their parents were born in Thailand. They are all kids from Myanmar parents working in the Mahar Chai district, which is home to the biggest fish market in the country. There are just under 1.5 million Myanmar workers living in Thailand, according to the official 2014 census. Some work in retail and hospitality in areas like Phuket and Bangkok, whilst others make a living in factories or doing fisheries work, such as those in Mahar Chai. Some have been living in Thailand for over 2 decades. Before the Thaksin Shinawatra government in the late 2000s, migrant parents had a hard time finding schools for their kids. Options were limited, without a Thai identity card, until NGOs started offering schools and tuition around 10 years ago. Even then, when kids were able to study in Thailand, very few were able to pursue their education when they returned to Myanmar, having missed out on the local curriculum.
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2019-10-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Almost one million Rohingya refugees are living in camps in Bangladesh. For years, government-run schools have quietly welcomed Rohingya refugee children. But recently, scores of children have been expelled..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-05-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: Questions raised over efforts to give Rohingya children and youth formal education under Myanmar curriculum.
Description: "On May 13, a group of Rohingya refugee education leaders had the rare chance to ask some of the questions that had been weighing on their minds for more than two years. For the first time, they were meeting representatives from the United Nations and international NGOs tasked with providing education to about half a million Rohingya refugee children living in camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Minutes of the meeting obtained by Al Jazeera, show how the community leaders questioned the officials about the slow effort to give refugees formal education, the absence of a Myanmar curriculum in the camps, and the lack of consultation with the community. "Two years we have been living in the camp with no access to education, why is this?" said Khin Maung, a Rohingya youth activist who was at the meeting..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-10-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: Rahima Akter has become the face of the struggle of Rohingya refugees who want, but are not allowed to pursue education.
Description: "Rahima Akter hid her Rohingya identity to enrol at a private university in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, but her dreams of pursuing higher education were dashed after she was suspended by her university earlier this month. The 20-year-old from Kutupalong refugee camp has become the face of the struggle of Rohingya refugees who want to study, as Bangladesh does not allow Rohingya to enrol in schools or colleges. Last October, she was featured in a video story by the Associated Press in which she talked about being a Rohingya and her dream to study human rights so she could raise her voice for her persecuted community. Nearly a year after it was published, the video went viral after which she was expelled from Cox's Bazar International University where she was studying law. "I was in college when the video started showing up on people's phones. Suddenly, everyone was asking me, 'Are you Rohingya?' Some people started a negative campaign, saying I should be sent back," said Akter, over the phone. "I was hiding my identity only so I could study. I feel guilty but I did not have an option. Is getting an education a crime? she asked..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera English"
2019-09-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: Formal education in Bangladesh is forbidden for refugees
Description: "Bangladesh university has suspended a student for being Rohingya, officials said Sunday, as impatience with the refugees grows following a second failed attempt to repatriate them to Myanmar. Some 740,000 of the Muslim minority fled to southeast Bangladesh after a military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017, joining 200,000 Rohingya already there. Formal education in Bangladesh is forbidden for refugees. Cox’s Bazar International University said it had suspended Rahima Akter Khushi, 20, and would investigate her case after local media said she hid her Rohingya identity to enrol. “Rohingya can’t be admitted to our university, because they are refugees,” the institution’s head Abul Kashem said. “Foreigners can study here, but they must follow a procedure.” He said the young woman had supplied documents showing she completed high-school studies in Bangladesh’s port city of Chittagong. Khushi, who was studying law, told AFP the private university’s decision had “mentally shattered” her..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times"
2019-09-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "For children and young people, the protracted state of limbo has awoken an intense desire for learning opportunities that prepare them for the future. When the huge infl ux of refugees began in 2017, UNICEF and partners responded by setting up large numbers of Learning Centres in the camps. For children unable to fi nd space in the Centres, other options have emerged: religious schools (madrasas) provide free lessons in Koranic studies, Arabic and other subjects; and private and group tutors offer classes for those who can afford them. By June 2019, the overall education sector had provided non-formal education to 280,000 children aged 4 to 14. UNICEF and its partners have ensured access to learning for 192,000 of those children, enrolled in 2,167 Learning Centres. At the same time, this leaves a gap of over 25,000 children not attending any learning programmes, while an additional 640 learning centres are needed. Furthermore, an estimated 97 per cent of adolescents and youth aged 15 to 18 years are not enrolled in any type of learning facility. Parents are concerned that the longer their children are deprived of education, the greater the risk that they will be exposed to exploitation and abuse. “Educated people have a value wherever they are,” said Mohamed Hussein, who sends two of his children to a Learning Centre in Camp 18. “Whether my son goes back to Myanmar or to Malaysia or anywhere else, the same is true.”..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNICEF
2019-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 2.82 MB 4.01 MB
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Description: "After fleeing Myanmar, Shahed is studying hard at a camp in Bangladesh and wants to become an engineer or a doctor. Every child has a right to learn, no matter where they are or where they come from..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "UNICEF"
2019-08-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "A brilliant student without a real school, Rashed visits a UNICEF Learning Centre, an Islamic school and a private tutor to get the education he needs..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNICEF
2018-09-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Myshara is 13 and a leader among her peers. But she and other Rohingya children struggle to hold on to their childhood inside the world’s largest refugee camp, Kutupalong, where hope and ambition clash with a harsher reality facing Rohingya refugees..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
2019-04-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "UN aid agencies and NGO partners launched the 2019 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, and are seeking to raise USD920 million to meet the massive needs of more than 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and over 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in host communities..."
Source/publisher: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
2019-02-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled a military crackdown in Myanmar two years ago. Most of them ended up in refugee camps in Bangladesh, without access to adequate shelter, basic supplies and health care. Now they're also being denied education. From the Bangladeshi government's perspective, setting up schools confers a state of permanence, one that would encourage Rohingyas to settle down..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: DW News
2019-03-21
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Since arriving to Bangladesh after the August 2017 crisis that forced them to flee their native Myanmar, Rohingya refugees have attempted to rebuild a semblance of normalcy in the squalid camps of Cox’s Bazar District. By 2019, a measure of stability has been achieved, with humanitarian agencies meeting the minimum survival needs of the 700,000 new refugees for food, shelter, water, and basic health care services. In contrast to the improvements in these sectors, refugees’ education needs remain largely unmet. The Government of Bangladesh restricts formal schooling for refugee children and youth; the lack of education has become a major source of concern and despair for refugees. In response, numerous refugee-led networks of community teachers have formed in an attempt to fill the gap in formal education. A mapping study consisting of survey and interview components was undertaken in March and April 2019 to identify these networks and learn about their role within the refugee community. The networks surveyed comprise 373 teachers educating 9,848 schoolchildren, mainly primary learners but spanning ages 3 to 23. These teachers, many of whom arrived in Bangladesh with significant prior teaching experience, represent a pool of human resources dedicated to improving camp education. They could be engaged by humanitarian agencies working in the education sector to benefit the overall education situation for refugees. While agencies navigate a highly politicized and complex context throughout each step of camp education planning, community-led education networks operate informally within a comparatively relaxed environment at camp level. While none have formal permission to work, many have received verbal permission from camp government authorities and operate openly. Many utilize the Myanmar government curriculum and state that it is a high priority to continue doing so, viewing adherence to the Myanmar education system as a way to prepare for future repatriation. Few of these education networks have had contact with humanitarian agencies. They are however keen to build external relationships, particularly if doing so enables them to participate in camp education planning and to access resources such as teaching materials, financial support, and teacher training..."
Source/publisher: Progressive Voice via "Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)"
2019-07-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 824.48 KB
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Description: "More than half of all refugees living in the Rohingya settlements in Cox’s Bazar, south-eastern Bangladesh are children under the age of 18. Currently, approximately 36% of Rohingya children aged 3-14, and 91% of young people still lack access to any learning opportunities in the overcrowded refugee sites. Many Rohingya children also lacked schooling in Myanmar. They and their parents are eager to have more and better quality education opportunities which can give them the skills to help rebuild their communities in the future..."
Source/publisher: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
2019-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: (English subtitles
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Description: Abstract: "This paper presents the findings of a research study that investigated the level of education that the children of labor migrants from Burma now living in Chiang Mai, Thailand can access to as well as looking at the possibility and different channels for their further education should their parents decide to return to Burma. The focus of the study concentrates on four different ethnic groups, Karen, Karenni, Palaung and Shan by looking at children from the age between 4-13 years old to identify factors that are involved when these migrant children move back to Burma. At the same time, for many children who spent most of their lives in Thailand, it is interesting to see the possibilities and challenges for them in relating to accessing to education since Burma is a new home for many of them. Therefore, it is also interesting to see how the Burma government as well as the Thai education system will respond to this issue of educational development in the changing economic and democratic processes of these countries.".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.
Creator/author: Sutthida Keereepaibool
Source/publisher: International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015
2015-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 56.1 KB
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Description: "The newsletter focusing on current issues of empowerment, community participation, and advocacy for women and children from Burma."..... "Women narratives: the life of a refugee" - "The nine refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border are home to people displaced by war, economic hardship, and Burmese military assaults on ethnic areas. Many refugee women are burdened by difficulties, but still holding on to hope..." "Reports of child trafficking and abuse prompt educational workshop on the border"..."Support Women?s Capacity and Listen to Their Voices"..."Donor cuts nearly shut down middle school in refugee camp"..."Parents question strenuous student schedules"..."Mon language study only allowed on weekends in government schools"..."Women IDPs and refugees continue to face challenges to livelihood"..."First ever Women and Peace Workshop held in Mon State"..."Shin Saw Puu Association represents important step in women?s leadership and civil participation" - ?This Association really encourages women to participate in leadership roles, and they inspire many women to get involved.”..."Young women leading community development projects"..."KWAT Demonstrates Persistent Abuses and Impunity in Kachin State"..."Child sufferers of dengue fever pack Moulmein hospital"..."
Source/publisher: Woman and Child Rights Project (WCRP)
2012-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-08-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Abstract: "This literature-based study explores three main paradoxes underlying Higher Education in Protracted Refugee Situations both theoretically as well as in relation to the case of Burmese refugees in Thailand. Firstly, the study will explore the paradox of basic relief for refugees on the one hand and developmental efforts for higher education on the other. Secondly, the issue of higher education and the nation-state will be addressed in relation to refugees? perceived liminality in the national world order. The last paradox to resolve revolves around ways refugees are commonly perceived as victims of war and conflict who are unable to cope with the challenges of higher education. Following a rights-based approach and adopting post-structural theories, this dissertation demonstrates how dominant educational discourse emphasises externalities and thereby neglects the individual?s right to higher education from permeating into practice while powerful narratives of refugees as dependent victims have shaped reality in justifying mechanisms for international protection and incapacitating refugees. The study concludes that higher education could be both a means and an end to refugee empowerment."
Creator/author: Barbara Zeus
Source/publisher: Institute of Education University of London
2009-09-01
Date of entry/update: 2011-07-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: A teacher finds fulfillment at a school for young Shan refugees... "Bernice Koehler Johnson discovered Burma and its problems late in life. The American teacher was nearly 70 when she applied for a job teaching Shan refugees in Thailand..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 3
2010-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-03-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: This paper will look at the concept of educational certificates for refugees, IDPs and migrants, the background of education certificates along the Thai-Burmese border; the political and social issues surrounding educational certification, and the strengths and limitations of current (unrecognised) certificates, as reported by refugees and migrants.
Creator/author: Olloriak Sawade
Source/publisher: ZOA Refugee Care Thailand - Issue Paper No. 2 -- Series editor: Su-Ann Oh
2008-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2009-01-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 259.18 KB
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Description: "Over the past thirteen years, many Burmese exiles based in Thailand, India and other neighboring countries have received training in various fields. In most cases, trainers from Western countries have come to border areas to teach Burmese about political defiance, human rights, diplomacy, international law, health, women?s issues, environmental issues, and so on. Sometimes, exiles are sent abroad to receive training. Training is indeed helpful for Burmese who plan to one day return to their homeland and contribute their expertise to the development of a free and democratic Burma. It is a reasonable idea to encourage exiles, who are usually forced to remain within small, marginalized communities, to attend training programs where they can learn new ideas and share their views with others. As with all forms of assistance, however, it is worthwhile to occasionally examine the effectiveness of such programs, and to consider whether there have been any problems that need to be addressed..."
Creator/author: Editorial
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy", Vol 9. No. 6
2001-07-00
Date of entry/update: 2008-05-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: The School for Shan State Nationalities Youth (SSSNY) was formed by a group of youth from Shan State in May 2001, and provides a social justice education program for youth to take an active role in the movement for social and political change.
Source/publisher: SSSNY
2014-09-21
Date of entry/update: 2008-04-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "A school in southern Thailand is improving the lives of underprivileged Burmese children, and a family from Rangoon..."
Creator/author: Shawn L. Nance/
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 11, No. 8
2003-10-00
Date of entry/update: 2003-12-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The benefits of education are self-evident, but can Western-led training for Burmese and ethnic students overcome decades of cross-cultural mistrust?..."The subjects that we learn are good, but the teachers are not from our country and we don?t learn much about Burma,"..."
Creator/author: Naw Seng
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 11, No. 3
2003-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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