Whether it is international human rights law or the Indian Constitution, education is a fundamental right of each child in India. But for five years, Rohingya refugee children were deprived of this in Delhi, despite multiple reach-outs to schools. All of this changed last Friday with a Supreme Court intervention, and 19 Rohingya children got admission in government schools in Delhi.
We spoke to some of these children and their families.
Nine-year-old Safijur went to school for the first time on Friday and has been admitted in the fourth grade. Safijur says he likes reading and writing and wants to become a teacher when he grows up. “I felt very bad when the other children of the street went to school and we could not. We thought that we would never be able to go to school.”
Eight-year-old Ayesha wants to study and become a doctor. Ayesha's father, Hussain Ahmed, has been living in Delhi for the last 10 years, working as a mason to support his family. “I am thankful to the Government of India, the law here, and the Indian people that they gave our children a chance to go to school.”
Social worker and senior advocate Ashok Agarwal, who fought the legal battle to help these children go to school, says, “The Constitution of India gives the right to life to everyone, whether he is an Indian citizen or a refugee. On this basis, we first approached the Delhi High Court and then the Supreme Court. In the end, the Supreme Court decided in our favour. This is a victory for the Constitution of India and the right of children to study.”
Meanwhile, political parties seem unhappy. With an eye on the Hindutva vote, the AAP has accused the BJP of getting Rohingya children admitted to government schools while the BJP claimed the Supreme Court order had come in February when the AAP was in power.
“This is a very cheap kind of politics. Education is the right of every child, and it is unfortunate to do politics in the matter of children’s education,” said Agarwal.
Watch.
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