A UN human rights envoy expressed concern on Sunday about the closure, ordered by Bangladesh, of schools for Rohingya refugees, believing that the measure risked condemning an entire generation to find itself
"practically without education".
Bangladesh officials this week ordered the closure of "unauthorized" schools in camps where some 850,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have fled the persecution of the community in Burma.
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Visiting the country, the UN rapporteur for human rights in Burma, Tom Andrews, said these private schools play a fundamental role in the education of Rohingya children.
"I am deeply concerned to learn that a new policy, enacted during my stay here, will close all private schools in the camps
," he told reporters in the capital Dhaka.
"We cannot allow an entire generation of Rohingya to be left with virtually no education
," he added.
Bangladesh's foreign ministry said the move, which will not affect some 3,000 schools operating under the auspices of Unicef, was taken with the aim of eliminating schools that "promote radicalism and are involved in illegal activities ”.
According to Human Rights Watch, around 30,000 children will lose access to education if this decision is implemented.
Rohingya refugees are crowded into camps along the Bangladesh-Burma border.
Most fled a bloody crackdown on the Burmese army in 2017 that the UN said could amount to genocide.