CARE Australia distributed much needed school supplies to the students of Maung Nama Primary School in northern Maungdaw recently, according to Ahmed Meah (not his real name),an elder from the village.
The aid group brought exercise books, schoolbags and raincoats to the school on Nov. 6. One student reported that 203 raincoats, 203 schoolbags and 1,105 exercise books were delivered to 400 students from grades 1 to 4.
Nine Rakhine and three Rohingya teachers work at Maung Nama Primary School. The Rakhine school teachers are paid by the government, but the Rohingya teachers receive their salary from collections from the students' villages, said a school committee member.
Following the 2012 violence, the Rakhine school teachers were frequently absent so the education levels of the students deteriorated. Voluntary teachers from the Rohingya community were brought in to ensure that the school could continue, said the committee member.
CARE Australia, part of CARE International Confederation, has been providing aid to Burma since 1995. Its mandate is to improve quality of life for rural communities with health intervention programs. Some of these include HIV/AIDS prevention and care; nutritional support for pregnant mothers and children; food security and livelihoods programs and water, sanitation and hygiene.
CARE Australia has two large rural development projects in Maungdaw and Buthidaung in northern Rakhine State that were suspended in 2012 when the violence broke. These have since resumed in January 2013.
