Education

In Bangladesh, there is no national legislation granting refugees access to education, including access to tertiary and other post-secondary education opportunities. The National Education Policy (2010) and the Primary Education (Compulsory) Act (1990), ensuring access to primary education for all children, may theoretically be interpreted as applicable to refugee children, but in practice is not. Bangladesh’s policies do not allow refugees’ formal access to education outside of camps in national or international institutions, confining educational opportunities to informal settings within camps. Education within refugee camps is managed by humanitarian agencies with the approval of government authorities, with students placed in grades based on competency assessed through placement tests. Informal religious education, such as Quranic studies, also plays a significant role in the camps.

Following the 2017 influx of Rohingya refugees, the Government prohibited the use of the Bangla language and national curriculum in refugee education. By the end of 2017, an interim package was developed by the Education Sector to guide learning facilities’ activities. Since 2021, the Government authorized the use of the Myanmar Curriculum in Burmese for Rohingya children’s education in camps in Cox’s Bazar District and on Bhasan Char Island to prepare refugees for eventual return to Myanmar. The Myanmar Curriculum is currently being offered from kindergarten to Grade 10. However, there is a shortage of skilled teachers proficient in Burmese, hampering the curriculum's implementation. Efforts are underway to address this through collaborations for language training. The Government also does not allow formal assessment, nor does it provide accreditation of the Myanmar Curriculum, which therefore hinders the measurement of the quality of education. 

In regard to secondary education (Grades 6 and 7), high dropout rates are a significant concern with enrolment in secondary education being low, driven by factors such as financial pressures, low-quality education, restrictive cultural norms concerning adolescent girls, child marriage, and a general loss of hope for the future. The reliance on informal education confined to the camps and the prohibition of the refugees’ access to national curriculum underscore the exclusion of refugees from mainstream educational opportunities. The overall situation results in limited educational prospects with lack of access to higher education opportunities.