Education for Rohingyas in peril as global aid dries up

Shrinking international aid has cast uncertainty over schooling for thousands of Rohingya children in refugee camps, jeopardising years of progress, warns Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative to Bangladesh.

She has also expressed grave concerns over recent violent protests by a section of teaching volunteers over their dismissal, describing them as a "direct risk to education and safety of children" at the camps.

"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," Flowers said in an interview with The Daily Star recently.

The Trump administration has already significantly reduced aid, while other donors have been slow to fund programmes for Rohingyas. The total funding requirement is $934 million for this year but only $338 million has been received so far.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, $72 million is needed to cover educational expenses for Rohingya children this year, but less than $10 million has been received.

Meanwhile, another two lakh Rohingya fled to Bangladesh since 2023, raising the total number of refugees to 1.2 million.

The funding cuts forced UNICEF to suspend classes for students from kindergarten to class-4 and lay off 1,100 teaching volunteers in June this year.

While most of the volunteers accepted the decision, a small section protested. It was fine except that the protest turned violent. Some angry ex-teachers issued threats to UNICEF and NGO staff, stormed offices and even resorted to physical assaults, said Flowers.

"They stormed the office of one of our partners… They threw a chair across the room and the person who was hit was hospitalised," she said.

Bangladeshi NGO workers, who have been targeted, are afraid to report to

police and that's not okay, Flowers said, adding that violence against the UNICEF staff or against any of its partners cannot be allowed.

She further said UNICEF provided one-month severance pay to the volunteers even though it was not mentioned in their contracts. Besides, around 25 percent of the laid-off teachers joined a new UNICEF skills development programme.

Flowers said education remains the cornerstone of hope for Rohingya children, as it allows the Rohingyas to feel competent, capable and happy.

Currently, UNICEF covers about 75 percent of education programmes in the camps, reaching some 228,000 children in over 4,500 classrooms. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain even a reduced programme.

For now, UNICEF is focusing on continuing classes at the secondary school level, arguing that adolescents are most at risk of child marriage, violence, and involvement in crimes if left idle.

She also warned of a wider humanitarian crisis unless fresh funding arrives, with looming shortages of food, cooking fuel, and basic health services in 2026.

"LPG [supply] will stop at the end of September. That means they [Rohingyas] 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."

Nutrition services have already been hit, and acute malnutrition among children increased significantly compared to last year, she noted.

WFP currently has no funding for food in 2026, she said.

"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 issued a strong appeal to donors and governments to renew their support.

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