7 International Wednesday, June 19, 2019 Shut out from schools in Bangladesh, Rohingya children turn to madrassas Critics say students are vulnerable to indoctrination KUTUPALONG: Half a million refugee Rohingya children studying, otherwise he will loiter around in the camp and are shut out of local schools in Bangladesh, leaving many get spoilt,” his father, Mohammad Khaleque said. in religious madrassas where critics say educational stan- dards are low and students are vulnerable to indoctrina- Vulnerable children tion. Around 740,000 Muslim Rohingya fled into the But critics warn that the madrassas are not a good edu- country during a 2017 crackdown by Myanmar’s military, cational alternative. The International Crisis Group said in swelling the numbers of the minority in Bangladesh to a recent report that there was no evidence madrassas are around a million. promoting violence, intolerance or indoctrination by But while their language and culture are similar to peo- extremists. “However, a policy of denying young people ple in southeastern Bangladesh, authorities regard the Rohingya as temporary guests and their children are denied access to local schools, raising fears of a “lost gen- eration”. Many Rohingya children had managed to slip through the net until earlier this year when Prime Minister The ‘fear Sheikh Hasina’s government cracked down, ordering schools to expel them. Lucky Akter, 15, lost her spot at of a lost Hnila village school, where almost a third of her class were from refugee camps. She now has nothing to do but help generation’ her mother with chores. “I wanted to be a doctor, but I don’t think it will be possible,” she told AFP, breaking down in tears. Quran studies formal education and leaving them reliant on unregulated Rights groups have criticized the government’s policy, madrassas almost certainly increases the risks of such and charities and the UN children’s agency UNICEF have groups gaining a foothold in the camps,” it added. UKHIA: Rohingya refugee children learn the Quran in a madrasa, or Islamic school, in a Rohingya refugee camp in set up some 1,800 makeshift facilities in the camps, Mubashar Hasan, an expert in extremism at the Ukhia. — AFP schooling around 180,000 children - but only to primary University of Oslo in Norway, said the government level. To fill the gap, Rohingya groups and Bangladeshi should ensure “thorough monitoring”. Rohingya chil- dreds. More recently, the group has made peace with the bring salvation to this community,” said Karim, who Islamists have set up more than 1,000 madrassas - reli- dren “are psychologically vulnerable, isolated and government and the degrees provided by its schools are administers seven madrassas with some 2,500 pupils. gious schools that provide everything from basic Quran- angry. Simultaneously they are culturally very reli- recognized officially. But Mojib Ullah, who studied in a Bangladeshi madras- based education to graduate-level religious studies. gious”, Hasan said. Senior Hefazat leader Azizul Haque denied the group sa before switching to secular schools, said the religious “We don’t differentiate people by their nationality as Some of the madrassas are run by the hardline Islamist had any link with extremism and said its institutions institutions were not offering a proper education. “These long as they have a strong urge to be educated and serve group Hefazat-e-Islam, which has a history of violent offered religious education in line with the curriculum at madrassas can only help create some religious teachers Allah’s path,” said the head teacher of one local madrassa, protests in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, including demon- many Bangladeshi madrassas. “There is no reason for sus- and mosque imams,” said Ullah, who now leads prayers in which has taken in at least 15 Rohingya students. Thirteen- strations urging the implementation of a blasphemy law picion,” he said. And Fazlul Karim, a spokesman for the an Australian mosque. “We need to send our kids to a year-old Hares, who was expelled from a school in the and gender segregation in workplaces. In 2013, tens of group, told AFP the schools were the “last resort” for the school system which can help prepare them to face the Bangladesh town of Teknaf, now goes to a madrassa in the thousands of Hefazat activists descended on Dhaka trig- Rohingya. “They were driven away from their home challenges of globalization,” he said. “Otherwise, this gen- Leda refugee camp. “It’s better for him to get busy with gering violence that killed 50 people and injured hun- because of their religion. True religious education can only eration will be lost forever.” — AFP Egypt - since the Rivalry and revelry mark revolt and fall of Mauritania’s campaign Mubarak in 2011 NOUAKCHOTT: After a campaign rich behind a candidate in poor and back- in color and steeped in desert traditions, ward areas as well as the towns. The six CAIRO: Former Egyptian president Mohamed voters in Mauritania will on Saturday, candidates must wind up their cam- Morsi was buried in Cairo yesterday, a day after choose among six candidates vying to paigns on Thursday. Campaigning has he died following his collapse in court and near- succeed President Mohamed Ould Abdel been marked in distinct Mauritanian ly six years since his ouster by now President CAIRO: This picture shows a general view of the Al-Wafaa Wa Al-Amal cemetery after the for- Aziz, who is standing down after a fashion by feasts and festivity inside Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Here are key dates in mer Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was buried, in Nasr city district, east of the capital decade in power. The frontrunner is for- tents and traditional music to accompa- Egypt since the revolt which drove Morsi’s Cairo yesterday. — AFP mer general Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, ny talk of political programs. There has predecessor Hosni Mubarak from power in a longtime ally of Abdel Aziz, whose two been no head-to-head candidates’ February 2011. elected five-year terms were preceded debate. to official figures. The government names the February 2018, the army launches a vast “anti- by a military coup in 2008. All of the rivals promise improve- Revolution Muslim Brotherhood a “terrorist organization” terrorist” operation. His main challenger is Sidi Mohamed ments in the standard of living, though On January 25, 2011, thousands of Egyptians, in December. Ould Boubacar, who hopes to win economic growth at 3.6 percent in 2018 inspired by the Tunisian revolt that toppled dic- Backing for Sisi enough support to secure a runoff vote is insufficient to meet the needs of a tator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, protest in Cairo President Sisi In February 2015, Russian President Vladimir on July 6. He is backed by a coalition led fast-growing population, according to and elsewhere in Egypt demanding longtime Sisi is elected president with 96.9 percent of Putin travels to Cairo for the first time in a by the main opposition movement, the World Bank. The ruling Union for the dictator Mubarak’s overthrow. On February 11, the vote in May 2014. His election comes after decade and signs a deal to build the first Islamist party Tewassoul, and by Franco- Republic (UPR) party, which has sworn after days of vast protests centred in Cairo’s the approval of a new constitution bolstering the Egyptian nuclear power plant. In March 2015, Mauritanian businessman Mohamed “to leave nobody by the side of the Tahrir Square, Mubarak’s newly appointed vice military’s powers. In late 2015 a new parliament the Obama administration lifts a partial freeze on Ould Bouamatou, a longtime thorn in the road”, argues that the crowds at its ral- president Omar Suleiman announces that the is elected, packed with Sisi supporters. military assistance decided after Morsi’s over- side of the regime. lies already “constitute a plebiscite”. president has resigned and the army is in throw. King Salman of Saudi Arabia visits Egypt Nearly 30 percent of voters say they charge. A crackdown on the protests has left at Repression in April 2016. In April 2017, US President Donald will vote for Ould Ghazaouani and 23 ‘Shared pleasures’ least 850 dead. Sisi presides over a fierce clampdown. Trump praises Sisi as the Egyptian leader visits percent for Ould Boubacar, according to In Nouakchott, followers of Ould Hundreds of suspected Islamists are sentenced to Washington. Sisi is hosted at the White House a poll by the Mauritanian Centre for Ghazouani pitched their tent close by Islamist victory death or life in prison in mass trials slammed by for a second time in April 2019. In October 2018, Strategic Studies and Research those of supporters of Ould Boubacar. Islamist parties win a majority of seats at rights groups. Secular opposition activists are also Sisi visits Paris, where he receives strong sup- (CMERS), conducted among 1,300 peo- Wearing a “campaign veil” in the colors parliamentary elections between November jailed. Local and international rights groups accuse port from President Emmanuel Macron, who in ple in the capital Nouakchott last week. of her favorite, Salka Mint Cheikh said 2011 and January 2012. On June 30, 2012, Morsi, the regime of torture, forced disappearances, sum- turn visits Egypt the following January. Four other candidates in the conserva- activists from the neighboring tent “don’t a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader, wins 51.7 mary executions and repression of dissent. The tive Muslim nation are outliers in the hold back from coming to our evening percent of the vote to become Egypt’s first civil- authorities deny the accusations, pointing to the Sisi boosted race, according to the poll. Anti-slavery dances”. “We would doubtless do the ian, democratically elected president.