Ensuring learning opportunities for Rohingya and Bangladeshi girls

BECOME A DONOR

Since 2012,  the 11th October has been marked by the UN as the International Day of the Girl. It aims to highlight and address the challenges girls face, while promoting girls' empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.

This year’s theme is entitled ‘With Her: A Skilled GirlForce’ as in the next decade, 90% of girls entering the workforce in developing countries will work in the informal sector, where low or no pay, abuse and exploitation are common.

​The theme this year seeks to promote the expansion of learning opportunities for girls and calls on the global community to rethink how to prepare girls for a successful transition into the world of work.

---

In the Rohingya refugee camps where we work in Bangladesh, over 52% of newly arrived children are girls, and there is a high school drop-out rate for host community girls. In both areas, they face sociocultural barriers combined with safety concerns and supply-related issues (like a lack of trained female teachers).

In our 75 Learning Centres in the camps, girls make up over 50% of children attending, and teachers are 80% female, providing a role model for those they teach. The curriculum provides a positive view of girls and they are given full opportunity to lead and make decisions through child councils.

Mohammed’s daughter is currently attending one of our new Learning Centres in the camp. He says, “If my daughter can get an education, she can choose life outside of this camp. I don’t want her to live the rest of her life here, but if she does not study, she will have no choice”.

In the local host communities in Bangladesh, girls are also vulnerable to child marriage due to the financial pressure on parents. Culturally, they are subject to ‘eve teasing’ in the streets once they reach a certain age and are unmarried, putting pressure on parents to marry them young to keep them safe from abuse.

​All of our Learning Centres in Cox’s Bazar have a 50-50 gender split and a gender sensitive curriculum, promoting a change of attitudes about girls among both sexes in the classroom. Teachers are 80% female and given full opportunities to train and earn an independent income.

There is a specific focus on issues of trafficking, child marriage and exploitation within the activities of the camp and host community Centres and teachers are trained to raise awareness with the children. They also work with parents to talk to them about the negative effects of child marriage and the value of girl’s education. We have seen positive results from this over the years, with parental attitudes changing both in the camps and the communities.

Safiya is studying Grade 3 at one of the Centres. She's also a member of the Child Council, and in one of their recent newsletters she wrote an article about her feelings about child marriage.
She says,  “If I leave the school my grandmother will marry me off, which I don’t like at my early age. I have decided to advocate against early marriage in my slum. If my neighbours don’t hear me I will bring my teacher to explain it to them, early marriage is a risk for health and life".

Child councils attached to the Learning Centres in both areas have extra activities focused on gender issues, and give girls a voice. In Cox’s Bazar they have become instrumental in campaigning against child marriage, and creating change within their communities.

Partnering with ‘Girl Determined’, the new Centres in the camps will be used to host weekly gatherings for adolescent girls, led by local trained facilitators. They will cover issues such as decision-making, self-confidence, girls’ rights and planning for the future.​

You can support this work by clicking the buttons below

RECEIVE OUR NEWSLETTER

MAKE A DONATION