BANGLADESH
WORKING ON THE EDGE WITH SLUM DWELLING CHILDREN
POVERTY IN COX'S BAZAR AND DOHARAZI ENCLAVES
In Bangladesh, poverty levels are so high that there are as many as 3.45 million working children. Children living in the slums of Cox’s Bazar have to work to contribute to the income of their families and as a result face practical and financial barriers to attending mainstream school.
Further north, many Rohingya refugee families from Myanmar moved inland from the heavily-monitored border in Bangladesh to ‘enclave communities’ in the Doharazi area after facing harassment, lack of opportunities, and the threat of deportation. Here in the enclaves, refugee children are entirely cut off from basic services, including education.
The Doharazi enclaves are home to Rohingya refugees
LIFE FOR CHILDREN IN COX'S BAZAR
Cox’s Bazar tourist beach is an area of outstanding natural beauty, yet it is ravaged by extreme poverty. As a result, rather than learning or playing, children often need to work to support their families.
Cox’s Bazar is one of six districts with the highest incidence of child labour across the country (9.4% compared to the national average of 6%) and even if children could survive without working, in the slum areas where we operate, there are no government schools functioning.
ACAPS reports that the education dropout rate here is 45% for boys and 30% for girls, largely because of low family income. It is one of the lowest performing districts with regards to education access, retention and achievement and UN figures state that currently, only 66.2 % of children in Bangladesh complete their primary education. 88% of female headed households have withdrawn children from school, citing rising food prices and the need for additional household labour.
A full third of the children living in these communities come from Rohingya refugee families who have fled previous waves of violence. While they have attempted to blend in, a study by migration researchers ‘xchange’ in July 2018 stated that 85% of local people believed that Rohingya children should not go to Bangladeshi schools. The reality is that these refugees would not have any other access to education.
The magnitude, longevity and escalation of the Rohingya refugee crisis has also placed an additional burden on host communities. With the market for casual labour saturated by new arrivals, compensation for a day’s work in many border areas has plummeted to below 70 pence a day. Demand for commodities has also spiked, pushing up prices for basic provisions.
Most of those living near the border prior to this crisis were already teetering on the edge of subsistence poverty, and poorly equipped to host one of the largest migrations in modern human history.
As a consequence, local communities are suffering and many children are forced to abandon their education. Many families cannot afford the associated costs of school or need their children to work in order to supplement household incomes.
Cox’s Bazar tourist beach is an area of outstanding natural beauty, yet it is ravaged by extreme poverty. As a result, rather than learning or playing, children often need to work to support their families.
Cox’s Bazar is one of six districts with the highest incidence of child labour across the country (9.4% compared to the national average of 6%) and even if children could survive without working, in the slum areas where we operate, there are no government schools functioning.
ACAPS reports that the education dropout rate here is 45% for boys and 30% for girls, largely because of low family income. It is one of the lowest performing districts with regards to education access, retention and achievement and UN figures state that currently, only 66.2 % of children in Bangladesh complete their primary education. 88% of female headed households have withdrawn children from school, citing rising food prices and the need for additional household labour.
A full third of the children living in these communities come from Rohingya refugee families who have fled previous waves of violence. While they have attempted to blend in, a study by migration researchers ‘xchange’ in July 2018 stated that 85% of local people believed that Rohingya children should not go to Bangladeshi schools. The reality is that these refugees would not have any other access to education.
The magnitude, longevity and escalation of the Rohingya refugee crisis has also placed an additional burden on host communities. With the market for casual labour saturated by new arrivals, compensation for a day’s work in many border areas has plummeted to below 70 pence a day. Demand for commodities has also spiked, pushing up prices for basic provisions.
Most of those living near the border prior to this crisis were already teetering on the edge of subsistence poverty, and poorly equipped to host one of the largest migrations in modern human history.
As a consequence, local communities are suffering and many children are forced to abandon their education. Many families cannot afford the associated costs of school or need their children to work in order to supplement household incomes.
LIFE FOR CHILDREN IN DOHARAZI ENCLAVES
Since the early 1990s the Doharazi Enclave communities have served as a safe haven for Rohingya migrants fleeing abuse in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Falling outside of the scrutiny of the border police, refugees in these areas have typically sought to live below the radar, and local landowners have happily received the cheap labour they offer.
A survey we conducted found that Rohingya children in these communities do not have access to formal education at all, and only a third of children from Bangla families are enrolled in school, due to cost and distance barriers. 96% of school-aged, Rohingya children surveyed, lack basic literacy and numeracy skills, without which they will struggle to find any employment other than menial, daily labor. Nine out of ten enclave community parents surveyed indicated that a desire for education was their primary concern for their children.
The survey also revealed that crowded conditions and a lack of resources in these communities result in significant health issues for the children. Two thirds (62%) of children interviewed in the targeted areas report they ‘often’ do not have enough to eat and experience prolonged hunger. Furthermore, 93% of parents stated that their children frequently faced health issues such as skin infections, high fevers, diarrhoea, and chronic coughing.
Despite these challenges, over time Rohingya migrant numbers here have continued to swell, with many more arrivals coming in the wake of attacks from the Myanmar military in 2016 and 2017. However, being unregistered and stateless, these Rohingya still enjoy none of the services available to their counterparts in the refugee camps including education and basic healthcare.
The needs of the children in these enclave communities remain some of the most acute in the region.
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