RNEB says its growing community-led education network now includes hundreds of institutions, teacher-training programmes, a Rohingya-language curriculum and digital learning initiatives aimed at preserving mother-tongue education in displacement.
By Ro Maung Shwe. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
The Rohingya National Education Board, or RNEB, scheduled a large-scale Rohingya-language examination for approximately 18,500 students from 100 community-based schools across the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar on November 13, 2026.
According to information provided by RNEB, the examination was scheduled to run from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. across 217 examination halls established throughout the camps.
The participating students have been studying the Rohingya language through community-based educational institutions connected with the board.
The examination forms part of a broader community-led effort to develop structured Rohingya-language education in a setting where displacement and limited access to formal mother-tongue education have made language preservation an important concern for Rohingya educators and families.
RNEB says its work now extends beyond classroom teaching to curriculum development, teacher training, translation, educational assessment and digital learning.
Building a community-led education network
RNEB describes itself as an independent, community-led educational initiative established in 2017 with a focus on preserving, developing and promoting the Rohingya language, particularly through Rohingya Script education.
The board works with different types of community educational institutions, including schools, madrasas, maktabs, Hifz institutions, private learning centres and other community-based initiatives.
According to RNEB’s 2026 figures, its educational programmes have reached more than 54,000 learners and involve 642 teachers.
The board also reports having signed memoranda of understanding with 394 educational institutions supporting Rohingya-language teaching.
Another 115 online learning centres, according to RNEB, provide educational opportunities to learners beyond individual physical institutions.
RNEB says its activities now reach Rohingya learners and educators in 12 countries.
These figures were provided by the board and reflect RNEB’s own record of the scale of its educational network.
18,500 students from 100 schools
The November examination was organised specifically for 18,500 students studying in 100 community-based schools.
RNEB said 217 examination halls were arranged across the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps to accommodate the students.
The board’s broader network includes another 294 educational institutions—including madrasas, maktabs, Hifz centres and private learning centres—that were not included in this particular examination.
According to RNEB, organising examinations across multiple locations is intended to provide a more consistent system for assessing students, monitoring learning progress and maintaining common educational standards among participating institutions.
The board also sees examinations as a way of recognising students’ progress and encouraging them to continue studying the Rohingya language.
For a community living across densely populated refugee settlements, however, organising an examination at this scale requires coordination among schools, teachers, students and examination centres.
The number of participating students also points to the demand for Rohingya-language learning within community-run education.
Developing a Rohingya-language curriculum
One of RNEB’s central projects has been the development of a Rohingya-language curriculum for Grades 0 to 5.
The curriculum is intended to provide students with structured instruction in reading, writing and other basic language skills.
Alongside the curriculum, RNEB says it is working to develop educational materials, document and expand Rohingya vocabulary, and translate books and other resources into Rohingya language and script.
According to figures supplied by the board, more than 100 books have been translated through its initiatives.
These include the Quran as well as other religious and educational materials.
For RNEB, producing materials in Rohingya is part of an attempt to address the limited availability of written learning resources in the community’s mother tongue.
The project also has a longer-term linguistic purpose.
In prolonged displacement, younger generations may grow up speaking Rohingya in their homes and communities without necessarily having structured opportunities to develop reading and writing skills in the language.
RNEB’s curriculum and educational materials are intended to address that gap.
Training teachers
Teacher development is another major component of the board’s work.
RNEB runs what it calls the Rohingya Language Pedagogy Development, or RLPD, programme, which focuses on developing teachers’ knowledge of the language and improving practical teaching methods.
The board reports that more than 600 teachers received training through its educational activities during 2026.
RNEB says the purpose of this work is to create greater consistency in how Rohingya is taught across different community institutions and to give teachers access to appropriate curriculum materials and teaching methods.
The board’s broader educational network currently includes 642 teachers, according to its reported figures.
A digital education system
RNEB is also developing a digital platform intended to connect different parts of its education network.
According to the board, the system is being designed to bring schools, madrasas, maktabs, community learning centres, teachers, students, researchers, professionals, members and administrators into a shared digital environment.
The platform is intended to support both education and institutional administration.
One part of the system focuses on schools and educational centres, allowing information from RNEB-affiliated institutions and online programmes to be organised within a common structure.
Another component is intended to manage different user roles, including students, teachers, volunteers, members and administrators.
The platform also provides a structure for organising courses, lessons, curriculum materials, educational activities, announcements, competitions and other community learning programmes.
RNEB says Rohingya teachers, researchers, professionals and subject specialists will also be able to develop and share courses, lessons and educational materials through the system.
A further component focuses on student records.
According to RNEB, the digital platform is designed to support attendance management, learning progress, assessments, examination records and certificates.
The board sees the platform as part of an effort to create more organised educational records while allowing learning resources and community knowledge to be preserved and shared more widely.
Language, memory and identity
RNEB’s educational work is centred on the idea that the Rohingya language carries more than everyday communication.
For the board, the language also carries memories, traditions, history, religious knowledge and other aspects of collective identity.
This question has particular importance for children growing up in displacement.
Many younger Rohingya have spent most or all of their lives outside their families’ villages in Arakan. Some were born in the refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Language can therefore become one of the ways through which family histories and cultural knowledge are transmitted between generations.
RNEB places Rohingya language and script at the centre of its educational programmes while also encouraging learning connected with culture, identity, religion, technology and professional skills.
Its stated long-term objective is to develop an educational structure through which Rohingya people can learn their mother tongue, contribute knowledge and preserve linguistic and cultural material regardless of where they live.
RNEB reports expanding international reach
RNEB’s figures for 2026 indicate a wide range of educational activities.
The board reports reaching more than 54,000 learners through its programmes, with 642 teachers participating in its educational network.
It says more than 600 teachers have received training during 2026.
RNEB also reports 394 signed MoUs with educational institutions supporting Rohingya-language education, as well as 115 online learning centres.
The board says it has issued more than 200,000 certificates recognising different forms of learner progress through its programmes.
It also reports educational activities extending to 12 countries.
Other reported achievements include the development of a Grades 0–5 Rohingya-language curriculum and the translation of more than 100 books and educational resources.
These figures come from RNEB and represent the board’s own reporting of its educational activities and institutional reach.
Seeking wider cooperation
RNEB says sustaining and expanding its work will require cooperation from humanitarian organisations, educational institutions, international agencies, donors, researchers, teachers, parents and community leaders.
The board identifies curriculum development, teacher training, learning materials, digital infrastructure and access to community-based education as areas where additional support could strengthen its programmes.
Its stated aim is to make structured Rohingya-language learning available to a larger number of children and young people while strengthening literacy in the community’s mother tongue.
Speaking on behalf of RNEB, MM Zubair, the board’s IT and Technical Officer, said the initiative was intended to connect education with the preservation of Rohingya identity.
“We are not working merely to teach a language; we are working to protect an identity, preserve a heritage, and secure a future for the next generation,” he said.
“Our children deserve the opportunity to know their mother tongue, understand their roots, and carry their identity with dignity wherever life takes them.”
Zubair also described language education as a right that should be available to every community.
“We believe that every language deserves respect, every child deserves the right to learn, and every community deserves the opportunity to preserve its identity,” he said.
“Together, we can ensure that the Rohingya language continues to live, develop, and flourish for generations to come.”
Education beyond the examination
The November examination represents only one part of RNEB’s wider educational programme.
Behind the 18,500 students registered for the examination is a larger attempt to build a community-run system for teaching Rohingya language, training teachers, producing learning materials and maintaining educational records.
The project also reflects a question facing a community living through prolonged displacement: how can a language be passed to younger generations when formal opportunities to study it remain limited?
RNEB’s answer has been to build its own educational infrastructure through community institutions, curriculum development, teacher training and digital resources.
The scale claimed by the board—tens of thousands of learners, hundreds of teachers and institutions, and educational activities extending across multiple countries—would make the initiative an important example of Rohingya-led mother-tongue education if independently documented at the same scale.
For the students participating in the examination, however, the immediate experience is much simpler.
They are learning to read and write the language they speak at home and within their community.
For Rohingya educators involved in the programme, the larger objective is to ensure that the language remains not only spoken, but taught, written, recorded and carried into another generation.
