Learning to belong to a nation that denies you: Myanmar curriculum & education for Rohingya refugees

This event examines how the Myanmar National Curriculum, implemented in Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, shapes children’s identities, sense of belonging and social cohesion.

Drawing on critical discourse analysis of Grades 1–5 textbooks and visual data from 65 learners’ drawings, the speakers highlight deep contradictions between national discourses and Rohingya children’s lived realities. Although promoting unity, diversity and peace, the curriculum simultaneously erases Rohingya histories, identities and experiences, promotes Burmese and Buddhist centred national images and overlooks structural violence and exclusionary citizenship regimes. 

Children’s drawings make these silences visible, depicting Islam as central to Rohingya identity, representing “peoples of Myanmar” through Buddhist symbols and portraying the Myanmar military as perpetrators of violence. 

Using the 4Rs Framework (Novelli et al., 2017), the event underscores that the curriculum lacks recognition and reconciliation, arguing that socially just educational approaches are required to counter these institutionalised social injustices.

This event will be particularly useful to academics, researchers, students, practitioners, and policy makers.

Related links

• Centre for Education and International Development
• Department of Education, Practice and Society

Image

Guduru Ajay bhargav via Pexels.