Rohingya refugees in India struggle for children's future

Aisha, a 7-year-old Rohingya girl, wakes up every morning chasing her elder sister Asma as the latter gets ready for school in Khajuri Khas, a locality in northeastern Delhi.

Aisha pleads with her elder sister to take her along most days, but her wish is never met. She was denied admission to the same school where her sister studies in seventh grade.

Their father, Hussain Ahmad, a Rohingya refugee who fled Myanmar with his family in 2017, struggles to explain to Aisha why the school authorities have refused her enrollment.

It pains him to see her plead — a constant reminder of the hurdles they face. 

"I have been running from one public school to another to get my daughter admitted, but she has been denied everywhere," said Ahmad, a construction worker. "They are depriving her of education. I feel very helpless."

Ahmad said he had submitted all the necessary documents, including United Nations documentation, required for refugee children's enrollment in school. However, the school authorities have stopped considering these papers for admission.

Barriers to education

For the past two years, Ahmad said, "authorities have started demanding Indian documents like Aadhaar [a biometric identity card], which we, as refugees, don't possess. Our UNHCR card has become useless," referring to the document issued by the UN refugee agency. 

Ahmad's experience resembles those of other Rohingya families in Khajuri Khas. A few meters from his home, Sarwar Kamal, another Rohingya refugee who works as a mobile repair technician, has been making rounds of government schools in the area to secure admission for his 10-year-old daughter.

"I couldn't get a proper education, and I don't want the same fate for my children," Kamal told DW. "I am worried they are shattering the dreams of our children."

Around 40 Rohingya families have lived in this colony ever since they fled persecution in Myanmar.

Most of these families stay in small, rented rooms in the narrow alleys of the densely populated area of Khajuri Khas. In this locality, 17 children have been denied admission in the last two years, according to a petition filed with India's Supreme Court.

An estimated 40,000 Rohingya people live in India, with 20,000 of them registered with the UNHCR. Most fled Myanmar in 2017, when the Southeast Asian nation's military unleashed a violent crackdown in what many describe as a genocide against the Rohingya Muslims in western Rakhine state. 

India does not have a national policy on refugees and considers the Rohingya to be "illegal foreigners." India is one of the few countries that is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

Anti-Rohingya sentiment growing in India

Meanwhile, the anti-Rohingya sentiment is growing in the South Asian nation. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is often associated with the anti-Rohingya narrative, it is by no means alone. The Aam Aadmi Party, which has governed Delhi for over a decade, has also used anti-Rohingya rhetoric to bolster its support ahead of elections.

Atishi Marlena, the chief minister of Delhi, has accused the BJP-led government of settling "a large number of illegal Rohingyas" across the capital.

Sabber Kyaw Min, the founder of the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, is alarmed by the politicization of the Rohingya issue. 

Min said this kind of political narrative targeting Rohingyas is adding to the fears of an already marginalized community.

"This education ban is politically motivated. The leaders of different political parties are portraying us as an enemy for their politics," Min told DW. At least 676 Rohingya people are currently being held in immigration detention centers across India, according to a 2024 report by Azadi Project and Refugees International. 

Half of them are women and children, the report said.

Children find alternative schooling

In Khajuri Khas, children who are unable to attend regular schools have joined an alternative school — a small religious seminary established by Mohmmad Syed, a Rohingya refugee.

The seminary, supported by the local Muslim community, operates out of a small rented room where Syed provides religious education, including lessons on the Quran. The students also learn Urdu, which helps them to communicate with the locals in the area.

"I stepped in when I learned our children are being denied education. These Rohingya students have dreams of having a good life but they are being discriminated for who they are," said Syed.

Vinod Kumar Sharma, the principal of the school that refused admission to 7-year-old Aisha, said his school cannot be blamed, as the authorities have set the rules for admitting refugee children. "I can't give admission to the students. I don't have the authority to do it," Sharma told DW.

"If they want to get admission, their families need to approach and take permission from higher authorities in the education department."

Rohingya take legal battle to top court

Refugees in this Delhi colony are not alone, however. In the neighboring state of Haryana, Rohingya children are being denied admission to schools after seventh grade. 

Emanuel Mohd, a community leader in the Nuh camp in the state, has started offering free tuition for 90 students who have been denied admission in schools.  

"Parents are anxious about the future of their children. Education is the only means of building a better future," Mohd told DW.  

In October, the Delhi High Court refused to hear a plea to enroll Rohingya children in local government schools. The court noted that since the Rohingya have not been legally granted entry into India, the matter falls under the purview of India's Home Ministry.

Ashok Agarwal, the lawyer who filed the petition, was disappointed with the court's decision. He stressed that the Indian constitution guarantees education as a fundamental right to every child in the country, irrespective of their citizenship status.

Agarwal is challenging the high court decision in the Supreme Court, and hopes the top court will soon set a date for hearing the case.

Back at Ahmad's home in Khajuri Khas, Asma has taken on the responsibility of teaching her younger sister, Aisha, as she waits for the day when the school gates finally open for her, too.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru