Arakan Militias Impose Schooling Fees on Rohingya Students Only

By Hafizur Rahman

Buthidaung, August 21, 2025, Rohingya families in Buthidaung Township are facing fresh discrimination as Arakan militias have imposed schooling fees exclusively on their children, while Rakhine Buddhist students continue to study free of charge.

Unequal Education Policy

Schools in the township reopened in late June after being closed for nearly a year due to ongoing conflict. But Rohingya parents now report they are forced to pay 10,000 Myanmar Kyat (US$2.5) per month per student to keep their children in class.

Teachers, who receive no salary from the authorities, are reportedly being paid from the fees collected from Rohingya students alone. Rakhine students face no such burden.

Parents Speak Out

For Rohingya families already struggling with displacement and restrictions, the fees have become impossible to bear.

Abdul Hamid (48), a father of four, told Rohingya Khobor:

“I have four children in school, but I can hardly afford food. How can I give them 40,000 kyat just for education? Since the militias took control, we cannot move freely and we have no work.”

Another father, Abdur Rahim, expressed anger over the discriminatory system:

“Education should be equal for all, but here only Rohingya are forced to pay. Rakhine students study for free while our children’s future is being sold.”

Militia Control in Buthidaung

The Arakan Army (AA) seized Buthidaung on May 18, 2024, following widespread destruction and burning of Rohingya villages, which displaced thousands. Since launching its campaign against the Myanmar military in November 2023, the AA has captured 14 of 17 towns in Arakan State.

For Rohingya families, this has meant new layers of persecution — from restrictions on movement and loss of livelihoods to now discriminatory financial exploitation in the education system.

A Future at Risk

Already survivors of the Myanmar military’s 2017 genocide, Rohingya communities now fear that their children are being pushed further behind through exclusion and unequal access to education.

Community leaders warn that without urgent intervention, this discriminatory system will deprive an entire generation of Rohingya children of their right to learn — deepening their marginalization and leaving them without opportunities for the future.