MYANMAR LANGUAGE ROHINGYA HOW TO
Her instructor, Najim Ullah, a 22-year-old Rohingya refugee, teaches students the alphabet, rhymes and how to write sentences in Burmese. Mohammed's 9-year-old sister, Yasmin, has also been exposed to multiple languages since they arrived in Bangladesh: "Minglaba" (a greeting in Burmese), she says. Those who do have access to education attend sessions for about two hours per day, at grade levels far below their age. They have been called a "lost generation." A report by Save the Children last year estimated that more than 70% of Rohingya children in Bangladesh are not in school. More than 1 million Rohingya refugees are living in Bangladesh, a figure that includes nearly half a million children. It is their national language," says Karen Reidy, spokesperson for UNICEF, which runs 1,800 learning centers in the camps covering 155,000 children. "The advantage of learning Burmese is that it would provide an opportunity for Rohingya children to reintegrate into the education system in Myanmar in the future. In the meantime, not knowing Bangla results in marginalization in Bangladesh, their host community. Some feel that raising their children with Bangla as the dominant language might further alienate them from the Rakhine and Burmese population once they return home.
Meanwhile, the Rohingya believe they will someday return home to Myanmar, so parents want their children to learn Burmese. The Bangladeshi government bans Rohingya refugees from learning the local language as part of its reluctance to allow their long-term integration. It is a means of assimilating but also a source of exclusion for Rohingya people on both sides of the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar. But language has become a political battleground. This mix of languages is normal for young Rohingya refugees.
He has also picked up Bangla words and phrases from Bangladeshi locals and aid workers in the camp. At home with his family and friends, he speaks Rohingya, a spoken language used by Rohingya people that has no written form. In class, he learns in English and Burmese, the latter the official language of Myanmar. There, he studies in a makeshift learning center perched on a steep hill in the world's biggest refugee camp. It's been a year and a half since Mohammed fled with his family from their home in Buthidaung in Myanmar's Rakhine state to Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. The 11-year-old, a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, starts counting in Burmese: "Tit, hnit, thone." He then switches to Bangla: "Char, panch, chhoy." Then Rohingya: "Hant, anchtho, no." Finally, he finishes in English: "Ten, eleven, twelve." COX'S BAZAR - When Mohammed Reyas works on his math classwork, his mind splits among multiple languages.