Staff Reporter :
More than half a million Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh are being denied the chance of proper education and thus have become vulnerable to despair and frustration, said the United Nations.
To this end, The UN children’s agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) unveiled a report on Friday seeking urgent international investment to avert them from such perils in and around the vast camps of Cox’s Bazar where the majority of Rohingyas live in.
UNICEF said frustration and despair are overwhelming young Rohingyas living in Cox’s Bazar.
The report, ‘Beyond Survival: Rohingya Refugee Children in Bangladesh’, marks two years since the arrival of around 745,000 Rohingya civilians fleeing extreme violence in Myanmar.
By June 2019, the report says, 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.
And for over 25,000 children who are not attending any learning programmes, an additional 640 learning centres are needed, according to UNICEF.
Further, 97 per cent of children aged 15 to 18 years are not attending any type of educational facility, the report said.
“For the Rohingya children and youths, now in Bangladesh, mere survival is not enough,” said Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
The report says without adequate opportunities for learning, adolescents can fall prey to traffickers who offer to smuggle desperate young Rohingya out of Bangladesh, and to drug dealers who operate in the area.
Women and girls face harassment and abuse especially at nighttime.
“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’re helping this generation of youths build their identity and make them part of the solution to the extremely challenging situation they find themselves in.”
Since 2017, UNICEF says, under the leadership of the government of Bangladesh, humanitarian agencies have made substantial progress in strengthening health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, protection and other basic services.
More than half a million Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh are being denied the chance of proper education and thus have become vulnerable to despair and frustration, said the United Nations.
To this end, The UN children’s agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) unveiled a report on Friday seeking urgent international investment to avert them from such perils in and around the vast camps of Cox’s Bazar where the majority of Rohingyas live in.
UNICEF said frustration and despair are overwhelming young Rohingyas living in Cox’s Bazar.
The report, ‘Beyond Survival: Rohingya Refugee Children in Bangladesh’, marks two years since the arrival of around 745,000 Rohingya civilians fleeing extreme violence in Myanmar.
By June 2019, the report says, 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.
And for over 25,000 children who are not attending any learning programmes, an additional 640 learning centres are needed, according to UNICEF.
Further, 97 per cent of children aged 15 to 18 years are not attending any type of educational facility, the report said.
“For the Rohingya children and youths, now in Bangladesh, mere survival is not enough,” said Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
The report says without adequate opportunities for learning, adolescents can fall prey to traffickers who offer to smuggle desperate young Rohingya out of Bangladesh, and to drug dealers who operate in the area.
Women and girls face harassment and abuse especially at nighttime.
“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’re helping this generation of youths build their identity and make them part of the solution to the extremely challenging situation they find themselves in.”
Since 2017, UNICEF says, under the leadership of the government of Bangladesh, humanitarian agencies have made substantial progress in strengthening health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, protection and other basic services.
