Sectarian violence in Rakhine State has isolated Rohingya communities and reduced or even eliminated access to essential services. This much is widely known. But what is the current situation in towns and villages across the state? I talked through this issue with a local aid worker (based in Yangon) who recently surveyed educational provision in Muslim-dominated northern Rakhine close to the border with Bangladesh – townships up above Sittwe such as Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw, plus the places in between.

For years, schools in the area have been severely under-resourced. Bamboo classrooms have dirt floors, broken benches, a fading blackboard and maybe no textbooks. In the corner of the teachers’ room might sit a battered typewriter. That’s about it. Today few global aid agencies teach in these schools. Community and Family Services International, Lutheran World Federation and Save the Children all have a presence, as does UNICEF. But the amount they can do at a time of Buddhist hostility and intimidation is limited.

Much provision therefore remains in the hands of the government – the Ministry of Education joining hands with state education officers. For teachers on standard contracts, MoE pays twice the usual salary for work in “difficult and remote” areas. It also brings in additional staff on a daily rate. However, few have the linguistic skills necessary to teach across the Myanmar, Rakhine and Rohingya languages. Moreover, many contracted teachers taking the double salary fail to show up in class. Some are absent now and then. Others are never present. Instead, they reassign themselves to schools in less difficult and less remote areas. By and large, township officials turn a blind eye.

The cumulative result in many Rohingya communities is that parents are often reluctant to send children to school, unless there is the incentive of a food ration. That is the case roughly 10-15 days per month. Even in class, resourcing problems mean that not much learning takes place. Many children leave school altogether after the fourth grade. In these townships, educating Rohingyas is thus something that happens haphazardly, and in some cases not at all.