Discussion forum – Learning in Exile: When Schooling Doesn’t Mean Learning

To mark the exhibition , we will host a discussion on the Rohingya community, forcibly displaced from Myanmar and now living in Bangladesh.More than one million people currently live in Kutupalong—the largest refugee camp in the world—within just 13 square kilometres, an area roughly the size of Heathrow Airport.

For Rohingya children, education has been shaped by displacement and policies that often overlook how learning happens. Since the 2016 exodus, many have been taught using the Myanmar curriculum in Burmese—a language most do not understand—resulting in significant learning loss.

At the heart of this issue is language. Rohingya, the learners’ first language, is largely excluded from formal education, making literacy and engagement difficult to achieve.Yet there is reason for hope. The renewed use of the Hanifi script allows learners to access literacy in their own language, supporting more meaningful learning.

We will hear from Mohammad Noor, creator of the Unicode-approved Hanifi Rohingya font, alongside researchers and NGOs promoting a “home language approach.”

Can education in humanitarian contexts move beyond symbolic provision and instead prioritise understanding and meaningful learning?Find a translation of this listing here.

David Archer is the Head of Programmes with ActionAid’s Global Secretariat, supporting work on system change for climate justice, economic justice, public services, and women’s rights. David was a co-founder of the Global Campaign or Education and chair of the Right to Education Initiative.

Maria Garraffa is a researcher at the University of East Anglia working at the intersection of linguistics, global health, and education. Her work advances equitable language development and decolonised education, with a focus on sustaining home languages in marginalised communities. She is leading a study on language and communication disorders in the Rohingya community, funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Noor Mohammed is a Rohingya activist and Co-Founder & Managing Director of the Rohingya Project. He works on digital identity, blockchain solutions, and language preservation to support the social and economic inclusion of stateless Rohingya communities.

John Littleton is Asia Regional Manager at Children on the Edge. He has supported the organisation’s Hanifi literacy initiative for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, integrating the Hanifi script into community learning centres to strengthen mother-tongue literacy and cultural identity.

Arathi Sriprakash is Professor of Sociology and Education at the University of Oxford. Her work focuses on racial justice, repair and reparations. She is a member of the Global Action for Racial Justice in Education (GARJE) project, funded by Project SETA and the Kellogg Foundation.

Dr Sharon Walker is a lecturer in the Sociology of Race and Education at the University of Bristol. She is a member of the Global Action for Racial Justice in Education (GARJE) project and Lead Facilitator of the Race, Empire and Education Collective.

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