A Rohingya student has been suspended from university after her identity has been revealed.
20-year-old law student, Rahima Akter has been removed from her degree in Bangladesh after a video of her went viral among her peers. The associated press video featured Rahima talking about being a Rohingya with a dream to help oppressed communities. The aspiring human rights activist and Red Cross volunteer had concealed her Rohingya identity in order to enrol at university.
Currently, Rohingya are not allowed to enrol in schools or colleges in Bangladesh. Rohingya children are permitted to attend non-formal primary schools in refugee camps. As a result, some Rohingya families have used forged documents to enrol their children in formal institutions.
Worried about her safety since her identity was revealed to her peers, Rahima has been hiding in a relative’s house in Cox Bazar.
“I was hiding my identity only so I could study. I feel guilty, but I did not have an option. Is getting an education a crime?” Akter asked.
“It’s a fundamental human right. I have learned that. Being a Rohingya is not my fault.”
Overcoming barriers to education has been an initiative that Akter has been fighting for all of her life. When she was 12 years year old, her father wanted to prevent her from attending school and marry her off according to traditions. Her parents had received disapproval from elders in the community for letting her study. With the support of her mother, she was able to convince her father to back off and continued her education.
Akter has been proactive outside of her education, working as a translator for journalists and contributing to the household income since the arrival of thousands more Rohingya refugees to her camp in August 2017. Around 740,000 of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after a military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on August 2017. Despite at least 10,000 people dying in the violence, Myanmar’s military officials have still not been prosecuted. Akter herself was born in Bangladesh after her parents arrived there in the 1990s.
Despite Bangladesh only allowing Rohingya children to enrol in informal schools, educational institutions have often still admitted these students. However, in January 2019, authorities began to take a stronger stance, identifying and suspending Rohingya students. Akter was able to complete high school by avoiding checkpoints and bribing public school officials.
By Huma Khan
