A total of 50 steel-structured two-storey learning centres will be built at Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar to provide educational facility for Rohingya children.The Nippon Foundation and BRAC jointly revealed the information at a press conference at BRAC Centre in the capital on Wednesday.
Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of The Nippon Foundation, and Asif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC, among others, were present at the press conference. With US$ 2 million support from the Foundation, BRAC will build 50 steel-structured two-storied learning centres in Cox’s Bazar. This project aims to
provide educational access for 8,000 Rohingya children aged between 4 and 14 years there. The Nippon Foundation is also supporting BRAC to open and operationalise 100 pre-primary centres for 3,000 host community children aged between 5 and 6 years with the funding.
Speaking at the press conference, BRAC Executive Director Asif Saleh said about 55 percent of the displaced Rohingyas staying in Cox’s Bazar are children and they have very limited access to education. Apart from facilitating education to the Rohingya children, he said, this project will support 3,000 children of host community, as they are also very vulnerable and have limited access to education. “Our vision is to promote facility to the poor and those who are still lagging behind,” he added.
Mentioning that the support of the Nippon Foundation and the Japan government are very important for Bangladesh, Saleh said: “We always welcome such support”. Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of The Nippon Foundation, said considering the present circumstances, women and children are the most vulnerable in conflict-prone areas across the world and “that is why we need to provide support to women and children”.
The Nippon Foundation has been working in Bangladesh since 1971. Its activities focused to support in health, education, human resource development and support for people with disabilities. These includes, for example, supporting flood or cyclone victims, providing anti-leprosy drugs, scholarship programmes, prevention of cholera epidemic, and supporting projects for relief and rehabilitation of refugees in Bangladesh.
The Nippon Foundation has decided to further support those projects in Bangladesh for basic human needs including education and learning opportunities.
