Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Bangladesh shuts largest private school in Rohingya camps

Bangladesh shuts largest private school in Rohingya camps

Bangladesh has shut the largest private school for Rohingya refugees, officials said Monday, in a further blow to the educational prospects of thousands of children stuck in vast camps in the country's southeast.

Bangladesh has been sheltering about 850,000 Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar since a military offensive in 2017 that the United States this month designated as "genocide".


Since December, Bangladeshi authorities have been shutting down schools set up by the Rohingya, and late last week it closed Kayaphuri School.

"One cannot simply open up and operate a school without having adequate permission. This is unacceptable," a senior Bangladeshi government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The school was set up by Mohib Ullah, a prominent Rohingya community leader who was gunned down in September, allegedly by a Rohingya militant group that is accused of murdering opponents in the camps.

GettyImages 1239567168 scaled Kayafhuri, the largest private school closed by the Bangladeshi authorities, is pictured in Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia. (Photo by MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The private school, funded by teachers and better-off refugee families, taught around 600 older pupils the same curriculum as is taught in Myanmar, with the hopes that the students will one day return home.

- 'Wanted to be a doctor' -

Mohammad Mosharraf, 19, said he was in the middle of his final exams when the school was closed, with armed elite police taking away the only computer -- as well as benches and whiteboards.

"I wanted to be a doctor," he told AFP.

UNICEF runs schools in the camps but they offer education to children aged four to 14, leaving older pupils to go to private schools or Islamic seminaries -- called madrassas -- in the settlements.

Bangladesh provides no education facilities for the refugees.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said last week that Bangladesh was threatening to confiscate refugees' identity documents and forcibly relocate them to a remote island if they violate the ban on refugee-led schools.

"First the government blocked meaningful education for Rohingya children, then it closed the schools Rohingya set up for themselves, and now it threatens to banish teachers and students to a prison-like island," Bill Van Esveld from HRW said.

A second Bangladesh government official called the statement "meaningless" and said any transfer to the Bhasan Char island was voluntary.

"They always see problems in our work. Can anyone simply erect a school anywhere and start charging students for it? It has to be done with proper paperwork," the official told AFP on Monday.

Community leader Shamsul Alam said the shutdown of private schools and madrassas would have a "dangerous impact".

"If they cannot go to schools, they will get involved in bad activities," he said, alluding to rampant drug-trafficking and other crimes rife in the camps.

Nur Kashem, a grade-six student, said he did not want to "randomly loiter around in the camp roads".

"I want to return home (to Myanmar) some day with my parents and become a schoolteacher there," he said.

Nur Khan Liton, former secretary-general of Ain O Salish Kendra, Bangladesh's largest human rights group, said that education is a "basic human right".

"When they go back to their homeland, the Rohingya people won't get any good jobs. It will worsen their poverty. They will remain a backward community," Liton told AFP.

More For You

Starmer scraps NHS England to cut costs and improve care

Keir Starmer speaks with medical staff during a visit to the Elective Orthopaedic Centre at Epsom Hospital in Epsom, England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Starmer scraps NHS England to cut costs and improve care


HUNDREDS of millions of pounds could be saved and patient waiting lists reduced as prime minister Keir Starmer announced plans to abolish NHS England, the body overseeing the state-funded health system.

In a speech delivered in Hull, Starmer explained his decision to streamline the National Health Service's management structure: "I can't, in all honesty, explain to the British people why they should spend their money on two layers of bureaucracy."

Keep ReadingShow less
Early risers in the UK witness stunning Blood Moon eclipse

The lunar eclipse of Friday may not have been as dramatic as the total eclipses seen in other parts of the world

iStock

Early risers in the UK witness stunning Blood Moon eclipse

In the early hours of Friday morning, stargazers across the UK were treated to a partial lunar eclipse, with many enthusiasts rising before dawn to catch a glimpse. The celestial event, which saw the Earth's shadow partially covering the Moon, began at 05:09 GMT. Although only partial for most UK observers, it still presented a spectacular sight, with western parts of the country and regions further afield, such as the Americas and some Pacific islands, witnessing the eclipse.

For some, like Kathleen Maitland, the experience was magical. Stargazing from Pagham Harbour in West Sussex, she described the beauty of watching the Moon gradually darken and transform into a reddish hue, with the sunrise unfolding behind her. The eclipse gave rise to the so-called "blood Moon," a phenomenon that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow, turning a dusky red as sunlight is refracted through the Earth's atmosphere.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sangam Foundation celebrates Women's Day

From L- Reetu Kabra, Maya Sondhi, Shobu Kapoor and Meera Syal during Sangam Foundation's Women's Day celebrations.

Sangam Foundation celebrates Women's Day

HUNDREDS of women gathered for the International Women's Day celebrations of Sangam Foundation last week. Prominent actresses Meera Syal, Shobhu Kapoor and Maya Sondhi have attended the event, a statement said.

The British Asian celebrities shared their experiences of breaking into an industry rife with misogyny and prejudice. The industry veterans also talked about challenges they faced in a male-dominated field.

Keep ReadingShow less
Asian tycoon Sudhir Choudhrie  backs Liberal
Democrats with £23,000

Sudhir Choudhrie

Asian tycoon Sudhir Choudhrie  backs Liberal Democrats with £23,000

BUSINESSMAN Sudhir Choudhrie has emerged as one of the biggest British Asian donors to the Liberal Democrats in the last quarter of 2024, according to the latest data from the Electoral Commission.

Choudhrie, currently an advisor on India to the leader of the Liberal Democrats, contributed on six different occasions to the party between October and December 2024, totalling more than £23,000. He contributed in a similar fashion in the previous quarter as well.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sunak is ‘content in his MP role
and has no desire to move to US’

(From left) Rishi Sunak with wife Akshata Murty, and parents Usha and Yashvir Sunak

Sunak is ‘content in his MP role and has no desire to move to US’

RISHI SUNAK “loves being an MP” and has no intention of flying to California to begin a new life in America, as his enemies alleged during the general election campaign last year.

And, unlike Boris Johnson, he is not striving to be prime minister again, even though he is still only 44.

Keep ReadingShow less