Empowering Rohingya Communities Through the Teaching of Women and Girls. To date, we have trained and mentored 6 local teachers and provided 30 women and 75 girls a free education they would otherwise not receive.
Attendance in these programs alone is a revolutionary declaration to families and communities that Rohingya women and girls have the right to leave their homes.
Rohingya women in Myanmar meet at a community learning center for Foundational Life Skills
Rohingya women in Myanmar meet at a CSI community learning center for literacy and numeracy training.
The Rohingya population remaining in Myanmar either live in government-controlled detention camps, or in outlying villages under severe restrictions.
Conservative cultural and traditional norms within the Rohingya community also prevent access to education for most adolescent girls and women, and they are often secluded within their homes. At CSI’s community learning centers, women and girls have the opportunity to gather together, sometimes for the first time in their lives. They also learn and develop skills, which empowers them to play a more active role in their families and communities.
Training Teachers Leads to Wider Community Acceptance
The program hired and trained local community teachers able to speak both the Rakhine and Rohingya languages in September and October 2021. Mentoring continued during the educational sessions that followed at CSI’s community learning centers in Min Ga Lar Gyi, Shwe Zar, and Pan Taw Pyin.
The teachers were enthusiastic and constantly strived to improve their implementation of lessons and deepen their community connections. Their devotion to the students and their parents not only increased student engagement but also acceptance of the women’s and girls’ education program by the community.
Myat, a 23-year-old teacher, credits her Women for Women International-funded training for not only improving her skills and giving her more confidence to teach in remote areas but also how to teach social problem-solving. Says Myat, “When I learned about social cohesion, I realized that we need to have good relationships with people from a different community, and respect each other in order to create a peaceful society.”
Weaving Change for Rohingya Women and Girls
Classes to enhance literacy, numeracy and life skills for both women and girls began in November 2021. All students received books, pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, T-shirts and umbrellas.
The foundational skills classes for 30 Rohingya women met 2-3 hours per day 5 afternoons per week to cover basic numeracy and literacy. While 41% improved their reading and writing skills and 27% improved their numeracy skills, the classes made important contributions to breaking down social restrictions.
Life skills classes for adolescent girls met 3 hours per day, 5 mornings per week. The classes covered:
Social cohesion
Civic and environmental education
Sustainable livelihoods
Health
Family management
Women’s empowerment
Habiba, a 13-year-old student in the program who had to drop out of school after third grade due to the 2017 conflict, dreams of being as educated as her teacher. She also reported learning how to communicate better with people.
