Due to a severe funding crisis, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been forced to suspend primary education programs for approximately 150,000 Rohingya children in Cox’s Bazar.
At a press conference held on Sunday (August 24) at UNICEF’s Cox’s Bazar office, the organization’s representative in Bangladesh, Rana Flowers, announced that children from kindergarten to grade four can no longer attend school due to the funding shortfall.
“In my 30 years of work, I have never seen such a severe funding crisis,” Flowers stated. She noted that global attention has shifted to conflict zones like Palestine, resulting in decreased focus on the education of Rohingya children.
According to UNICEF, around 250,000 Rohingya children were previously enrolled in education programs, with 75% of them studying under UNICEF’s initiatives. However, the funding crisis has not only disrupted primary education but also led to the discontinuation of critical components like English language instruction.
Addressing concerns, Flowers clarified that the suspension of English education was due to financial constraints, not a result of policies set by the Bangladeshi government.
The crisis has also impacted local teachers, with 1,179 educators losing their jobs, though 1,370 Bangladeshi teachers remain employed. Additionally, many of the 3,873 Rohingya volunteer teachers in the camps have had their stipends halted.
Flowers expressed concern that protests and some violent rhetoric from laid-off teachers could jeopardize ongoing projects.
UNICEF reports that there are currently 595,354 Rohingya children in Cox’s Bazar’s 34 refugee camps, with an additional 30,000 children born each year.
The announcement comes at a time when Cox’s Bazar is hosting a three-day international conference titled “Stakeholders Dialogue: Takeaways to the High-Level Conference on the Rohingya Situation,” where funding shortages are a key topic. UNICEF’s decision underscores the harsh realities of the ongoing Rohingya crisis.
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