Sustainability and Social Justice
Date
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in International Development and Social Change (IDSC)
Department
Sustainability and Social Justice
Chief Instructor
Nigel Brissett
Keywords
education, Rohingya, language, international law, identity
Abstract
This research paper investigates how language-of-instruction policies shape educational inequality and identity formation among Rohingya refugee children living in protracted displacement in Cox’ Bazar, Bangladesh. Analyzed from a human right–based framework, the study examines whether existing educational policies align with international legal standards on the right to education, including the UDHR, ICESCR, Child Convention and SDG 4. While these frameworks guarantee non-discriminatory and inclusive access to education, the reality in Cox’s Bazar reveals a persistent gap between normative commitments and policy implementation. Moreover, the study explores how the exclusion of both the host language (Bangla) and the native Rohingya language from both formal and informal education systems marginalizes students and reinforces their socio-political invisibility. This exclusion has also disrupted intergenerational language transmission, contributing to a gradual erosion of the Rohingya language itself. This research is explored not on the ground of logistic challenges, but it would reveal the structural challenges in overall situation.
Drawing on a qualitative, theory-driven research design, the study analyzes various policy documents, institutional reports, and scholarly literature, supplemented by secondary quantitative data from sources such as UNICEF, IMO, IIFFMM and the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG). Through document analysis, critical discourse analysis, and mechanism tracing, the research identifies how language policy operates across three interconnected domains: policy adaptation, institutional implementation, and socio-educational outcomes.
The findings reveal that Rohingya refugee education is structured by a regime of “triple linguistic exclusion”: the marginalization of the Rohingya language, the prohibition of Bangla, and the partial and uneven imposition of Burmese as the language of instruction. Rather than facilitating learning, this configuration produces differentiated linguistic access, cognitive barriers, and uneven educational outcomes, contributing to disengagement and dropout. At the same time, language policy functions as a mechanism of power, shaping identity formation and producing a condition of linguistic liminality in which learners are unable to fully anchor themselves within any linguistic, cultural, or political community.
The study concludes by advocating for a shift toward linguistic justice in refugee education, emphasizing the need for multilingual approaches that recognize the structurally embedded problem influenced by legal ambiguity, political temporality, and linguistic governance.
Recommended Citation
Rahman, Md Khalid, "Languages of Marginalization: Educational Inequality And Identity Formation Among Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh" (2026). Sustainability and Social Justice. 9.
https://commons.clarku.edu/graduate_idce/9
Worcester
No
