Nearly seven hundred and fifty thousand Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh. 400,000 are children¹. This group, over half of the population that inhabits the 34 refugee camps that make up Cox’s Bazar, is in a crucial phase of development, and needs focused support from not only the Bangladeshi government, but also from the NGOs that work on the ground in these camps.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), prioritizing basic assistance to all those inhabiting the camps has allowed the terrible living conditions of the camp to somewhat stabilize, including provision of water access and sanitation aid, as well as basic shelter supplies such as tents, tarps, and blankets². In addition to these basic necessities, humanitarian organizations have also rallied around protecting this vulnerable population from the monsoon season to which they are particularly exposed in Cox’s Bazar. Because their shelters are temporary and makeshift, they are more heavily impacted by the heavy rain and winds that come with monsoons, flooding their shelters, and creating massive landslides on the steep embankments on which the shelters are created³. Humanitarian organizations are now essentially working to undo the difficult living conditions that have been created for the Rohingya by establishing refugee camps in these geographically challenging locations.

Additionally, the Bangladeshi government has been overwhelmed by this influx of refugees. According to the UNHCR, while Bangladesh has responded admirably to the crisis, opening its borders to over seven hundred thousand Rohingya, the country’s infrastructure and resources are being overextended⁴. This isn’t the only difficulty that the Bangladeshi government faces - they also must decide how to integrate this large population into the Bangladeshi infrastructure. A prime area of contention is the extent to which Rohingya children should be included in the Bangladeshi education system. Only recently, as of January 2020, did the government decided to provide education following the Myanmar curriculum to children under the age of 14, and skills development to those older than 14⁵. Of course, implementation of this plan has been heavily impacted due to the impacts of Covid-19, forcing most students to leave schools to avoid spread of the virus⁶.