Schools just closed for 300,000 Rohingya refugee children

BY MICA BEVINGTON

This is a heartbreaking update to write. As of June 3rd, nearly 6,500 learning facilities in Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh—the world’s largest refugee camp—have been shut down due to funding cuts. This includes all 947 BRAC learning facilities. That means more than 300,000 children, enduring the results of conflict and displacement, just lost their access to education. 

Earlier this year, I visited a few classrooms in Cox’s Bazar. Students beamed as they told me how much they loved school and seeing their friends. One teacher shared, “Earlier this year, [my students] couldn’t read and write. Now, they’re reading and writing clearly.” To know this has stopped is devastating.  

More than 300,000 Rohingya children just lost access to education due to funding cuts.

More hardship is coming, too. This September, food rations will be cut in half for the one million Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar. About half of these refugees are children.

These crises are connected: when children don’t have enough to eat, it’s harder for them to focus in class. When schools close, families lose out on their children’s futures.

Your support today can stop this crisis. Every dollar you give today will go twice as far to keep families fed and children learning.

Our hope is that the school closures will be temporary, and more funding will be made available. Plus, BRAC’s Humanitarian Play Labs—safe, joyful spaces for younger children to explore and learn—are temporarily closed but set to reopen next month. Play is essential for learning, especially for children who have experienced hardship and trauma. 

Children show off their art in a Humanitarian Play Lab. These colorful safe spaces provide a place for refugee children to play, heal, and learn.

BRAC has worked with communities in the Cox’s Bazar region for nearly four decades. Today, we are the largest responder to the Rohingya refugee crisis. We are committed to standing with the Rohingya community through this crisis. 

But we can’t do it without you. With your partnership, we can help refugee families meet their needs during this critical time. From now through World Refugee Day on June 20, any amount you can give will be MATCHED up to $70,000. 

Here’s what your gift today can do:
🥬 Provide land and seeds for Rohingya to grow nutritious food through community gardens as rations are cut in half.
💗 Create safe spaces for displaced women and girls to access care and find community.
🧸 Give young children a colorful space to play and learn at BRAC Humanitarian Play Labs.
💡 Train adolescents with skills to serve their community, such as gender-based violence prevention and agriculture.
🏠 Build safe, durable shelters to protect refugee families from heat and natural disasters. 

 Your gift today will be DOUBLED to help reopen learning spaces for young children and provide families with food through community gardens.

Thank you for standing with Rohingya children and families—whose basic rights to food, safety, and education are under threat. Your support will make so much possible.

Mica Bevington is Director of Communications at BRAC USA.