Dil Afrose Duetee :
Significant numbers of children worldwide are denied education due to the impact of emergencies. To rescue these blessedbut disadvantaged souls from the emergency situation, Education in Emergency policy is now call of the time. The roots of “education in emergencies” are found in both humanitarian response and global development efforts, placing it at the nexus of the humanitarian-development continuum.
The principles and policy decisions that influence education is called Education policy which includes all the laws that government sets up to run the educational institutions of respective country. An Education Policy comprise of the curriculum, teaching-learning modality, examination system, school management, involvement of community, administrative hierarchy of government education body, regulatory system, fee structure in different kind of educational institutions, responsibility of teachers and other education providers etc. Education policy is instrumental in the educational framework of the country and updating it on a regular basis is vital to our progress as a nation. Unfortunately despite of urgent need of including policy guideline for Education in Emergency, Bangladesh do not have a separate policy and even didn’t include it in national education policy yet.
Here emergency can occur by any of natural disaster like flood, earth quack, health crisis and pandemic like Covid-19 or any man-made disaster like war, forcible flee or anything else. Regrettably, education is the first ever service that usually suspended at the very beginning of an emergency situation. Whatever the disaster happened, most of the countries just shut down the educational institutions and children miss out on vital learning and are deprived of a safe place to be when they are in very traumatic situations.
For example in the time of Covid-19, the immediate purpose of the suspension of classes was to ensure social distancing by discouraging students from physical gathering in a crowded place. The intention to stop the novel corona virus from spreading is noble. However, the educational institutions were closed for a prolonged time. All of a sudden, teachers were puzzled on how to compensate for the lost time and finish their lesson plans on time. Many students did not know how to negotiate with this unexpected isolation and government also took a longer time to announce about the online learning modality. This indecision was happened in the case of Rohingya refugees flee also. As Bangladesh do not have any policy on emergency in education so the country level policy decision on the refugee education came late and thus the Rohingya refugee education was affected. In 2018, the “Learning Competency Framework Approach” (LCFA) was introduced as the very first initiative of the protecting education for Rohingya refugees in emergency situation. It was an immediate measure to provide the Rohingya children and youth with a pathway to education in an emergency, given the limitations in the camp context. But due to the unfortunate long process of repatriation, In January 2020 the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) approved formal education of the Rohingya community through Myanmar Curriculum (MC) in the camps to protect the right of education in Rohigya refugee emergency. This transition from LCFA to MC is not a smooth way rather it requires so much effort of teachers and students as well as the development agencies and government. The above discussed disorganised situation occurred just due to lack of Education in Emergency policy.
These two situation is the evidence how much needed the Education in Emergency policy is. Practically Bangladesh needs a national contingency strategic intervention plan for education sector which may go beyond fire drilling or natural disasters. The existing Bangladesh Emergency Response Plan 2014 is not education focused and simply includes guidelines for the aftermath of flood, cyclones and earthquakes only. But sadly, no alternative modality to provide education in emergency was discussed there. This is high time to educate ourselves and brace ourselves against the new dangers that may not wear a crown; they may appear in the shape of climate change or in some other humanitarian crisis formats where we will need to relearn everything that we have learned so far. And that day is not far, yet we are far away from being ready for it. So formulate an Education in Emergency policy is an urgent need in Bangladesh now a days. This policy will focus and outlines the emergency management system in the event of a major crisis / disaster. The Facility Management Group will activate the emergency preparedness and response plan whenever such an emergency reaches proportions beyond the capacity of routine procedures. This policy will be region specific to get its best result as the need of hill tracts area is far different from the border areas. The needs and beliefs of the community people should determine content of the Emergency Education Policy to ensure its most possible implementation during an emergency.
The Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) can provide a humanitarian and development framework to formulate the education in emergency policy. According to INEE, Education in Emergency policy refers to the quality learning opportunities for all ages in situations of crisis, including early childhood development, primary, secondary, non-formal, technical, vocational, higher and adult education. Education in emergencies provides physical, psychosocial, and cognitive protection that can sustain and save lives. Common situations of crisis in which education in emergencies is essential include conflicts, situations of violence, forced displacement, disasters, and public health emergencies. Education in emergencies is a wider concept than ’emergency education response’ which is an essential part of it. This policy will ensure the rights of children and young people are not suspended during an emergency. In times of crisis, it offers children a sense of hope.
Particularly for Bangladesh, it is important to maintain a close link between humanitarian action and development in order to build stronger resilience in the education system and affected communities. From the very beginning, Bangladesh government always got support from the local, national and global development agencies to ensure education for all. Even in the time of Rohingya refugee crisis, these development agencies took the entire burden to support our government. So, it will be a great deal if Bangladesh government involves the development agencies along with national education and humanitarian experts to formulate and outline a flawless Education in Emergency Policy. Most important thing is to make a proper balance between the education factors and humanitarian factors to ensure a practical policy which will contribute to continue the education for all even in emergency situation. Nation’s dream is no educational institutions will be shutdown due to any emergency, rather during an emergency children will feel secured in their schools or learning centers and not be affected by learning loss at all.
(The writer is a development activist).