Because of the funding crisis at UNICEF, about 300,000 Rohingya refugee children are at risk of losing access to basic education permanently. DW spoke with disappointed students and teachers in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
00:00A downpour provides a brief diversion for these kids in the huge camps in Cox's Bazar.
00:09Over 1.2 million Rohingya refugees who have fled from Myanmar to avoid persecution live here.
00:18Many of them are children.
00:21Hamidur Rahman was a third grader at a learning center run by UNICEF.
00:26His school is currently shorted and at risk of permanent closure due to a fund shortage at the UN agency.
00:35My school is closed now. I try to continue my lessons at home.
00:39I feel sad that I can't go to school anymore.
00:42I spend my day riding a bicycle and playing with other kids.
00:47Hamidur kept the bag and books he got for free from UNICEF's learning center.
00:53Rohingya pupils are only allowed to follow the Burmese curriculum for basic education.
01:00Still, Hamidur dreamed big.
01:03I wanted to be a doctor but it won't happen now.
01:06Many Rohingya teachers also lost their jobs after the fund shortage was announced earlier this month.
01:14Among them was Toslima, a 22-year-old Rohingya teacher who used to teach her pupils in this classroom.
01:23I taught 30 students in the morning and 30 others in the afternoon every day.
01:29I used to teach them math, the Burmese language and social study.
01:36We gave them books, pens, papers, meals and other good things.
01:41We and the students are both suffering because of the closures.
01:46Some of the students who are taking lessons at the UNICEF-funded learning centers have since enrolled into private learning facilities run by educated Rohingya adults.
02:01They teach free of charge but only have room for a fraction of the children.
02:07We are getting more and more students nowadays as all the schools run by NGOs are closed now.
02:16Some dedicated students come to us while others roam around idle.
02:22We provide them with as much education as possible.
02:27But we can't offer them books, pens, papers or any meal during their breaks.
02:38Experts estimate that around 10,000 students can be enrolled in private centers,
02:44a tiny number compared to the hundreds of thousands of pupils needing education.
02:50teaching volunteers.
03:04Of this 6,500, around 4,500 were funded by UNICEF.
03:11And due to this funding cut, UNICEF had to close those 4,500 learning centers.
03:18The rest of the learning centers were also closed.
03:21Basically 300,000 children now don't have a learning center to go.
03:28Without the UNICEF learning centers, the future of students like Hamidur looks bleak.
03:34And the Bangladeshi government will not allow them to go to state schools.
03:39It wants all Rohingya refugees to return to Myanmar.
03:43But this is unlikely to happen soon.
03:46Dr disease of pins would not allow them to come back by dific Conflict.
03:47It wants to get laid off the
03:566th grade.
03:57For then it is likely a feeling even better to come back.
