Govt closes unauthorised learning centres for Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar

The government has closed some unauthorised ‘private’ home-based schools, coaching centres, and madrasahs run by Rohingya people in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps.

A foreign ministry statement made the clarification about the closures on Sunday.

Following the guidance of the Government of Bangladesh, NGOs and INGOs are providing informal learning to FDMN (Rohingya) children through around 3,000 "learning centres" in the camps, the statement said.

Recently, informal learning using Myanmar curriculum and Myanmar language has been rolled out in the camps to improve their productivity, uphold their tradition and cultural values leading to their reintegration in Myanmar upon repatriation, it said.

However, some unauthorised "private" home-based schools, coaching centres, and madrasahs run by Rohingya are conducting private coaching activities in the camps without the approval of the Government of Bangladesh, it added. 

These types of private and home-based learning centres do not ensure equity among FDMN children.

Those unauthorised activities were asked to stop. Due to those learning centres' activities, the main learning centres are becoming unutilised, which is hampering the learning activities among FDMN learners to a common standard. In that context, those unauthorized activities were asked to stop.

The authorised learning centres are in operation following the government's guidance. Neither UNICEF nor UNHCR ever raised any concern for closing the unauthorised centres, it continued.

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