Education for Rohingyas in Peril as Global Aid Dries Up

Photo: The Daily Star

Arakan Now | 23 August 2025

Shrinking international aid has cast deep uncertainty over the future of education for Rohingya children in refugee camps, threatening to undo years of progress, UNICEF has warned.

Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative to Bangladesh, said thousands of children are now at risk of losing access to schooling as aid dries up and unrest grows among laid-off teaching volunteers. “We are witnessing a dangerous convergence of challenges… Both factors threaten to undo years of progress made in bringing learning and hope to Rohingya boys and girls,” she told The Daily Star.

The crisis comes as the international community struggles to maintain support for nearly 1.2 million Rohingyas who have taken shelter in Bangladesh since fleeing persecution in Myanmar. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, $934 million is required for 2025, but only $338 million has been secured so far. For education alone, $72 million is needed, yet less than $10 million has been received.

The funding shortfall has already forced UNICEF to suspend classes for children from kindergarten to class four and lay off 1,100 teaching volunteers in June. While most accepted the decision, a small section of ex-teachers resorted to violent protests, storming NGO offices and even physically assaulting staff. “They stormed the office of one of our partners… They threw a chair across the room and the person who was hit was hospitalised,” Flowers recounted.

UNICEF says it provided one month’s severance pay to all laid-off teachers, though this was not required by contract. About 25 percent have since joined a new UNICEF skills development programme. Still, sustaining education remains increasingly difficult. Currently, UNICEF runs about 75 percent of education programmes in the camps, reaching 228,000 children in over 4,500 classrooms. The agency is now prioritising secondary-level education, warning that adolescents are at heightened risk of child marriage, violence, and crime if left idle.

But the challenges extend far beyond education. Flowers warned of a wider humanitarian crisis looming in 2026, with severe shortages of food, fuel, and basic health services unless new funding arrives. The World Food Programme currently has no secured funding for food distribution next year, while the LPG supply that Rohingya families rely on for cooking will run out by September. “That means they can’t cook. What is the alternative? When you don’t have LPG gas, you start cutting down all the trees… and then you get worse landslides,” she cautioned.

Nutrition services have already been hit, with rates of acute malnutrition among children rising compared to last year. If left unaddressed, UNICEF warns, the setbacks could trigger preventable disease outbreaks and deepen desperation across the camps.

“The Rohingya did not choose to be refugees. They fled persecution and violence. It is unacceptable that they should now suffer hunger and deprivation because the world has turned away,” Flowers said, urging international donors and governments to renew their support.

“We are at a breaking point,” she added. “Unless resources are restored, we will see reversals in education, malnutrition rates climbing, preventable disease outbreaks, and further desperation among families.”