A learning facilitator at an NGO organized learning center explains how the COVID 19 lockdown affected learning in the refugee camps and why many girls and boys have dropped out. A teenage boy describes the different strategies he make use of to get educated and to fulfill his ambitions, and a young man warns that the lack of work opportunities and educational opportunities leads young people into crime and desperation.

Film production: Mirzan & Roshid Mubarak Research direction: Marte Nilsen

Rohingya refugees make films about their struggle for education

In PRIO’s EducAid project, we have invited Rohingya refugees to create a series of six short documentary films on the complex challenges refugees face in their quest for education. The young film makers have interviewed community teachers, young students and their parents to let them speak their mind about dreams, aspirations and the importance of education for their community.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are denied access to formal education. Humanitarian organizations can provide some basic learning, but Rohingya children and youths want to exercise their right to quality education. Without education, they see no future.

Rohingya teachers and former university students have organized schools and private tutoring to meet the needs of the community, but they face persecution and harassment from the authorities for their efforts.

It has been five years since more than 700 000 Rohingya people had to flee from the brutal massacres by the military in Myanmar and Rohingya parents are deeply concerned about the future of their children.