A ray of hope for the Mro children in the remote hills of Bandarban

Rengoypara Asha-Hofnung Private Primary School

A mother hailing from the remote hills of Bandarban’s Mro community had sent her son away to Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya to pursue his education. A few years later, to her dismay, her son never returned. He had abandoned his mother and the Mro community, which he had once called home, and had changed his identity from ‘Mro’ to ‘Barua.’

According to his mother, had the people residing in the remote hills of Bandarban built a school for the children of the Mro community, she would never have had to send him away for school or lose him to another ethnic community in the process.

Santhak Mro’s agony of ‘losing her son’ was a story known to many within her community and beyond. So, the Mro community came together with some volunteers to build a school so that no mother would have to go through the same fate as Santhak Mro.

Today, the school for Mro children stands tall between three hills in Naikhongchari Upazila’s Docchari Union, a remote area of Bandarban, thanks to the efforts of the twenty volunteers and a German expatriate. The people have named the school Rengoypara Asha-Hofnung Private Primary School.

The entire Mro community rejoiced this week as the whole neighbourhood came together to celebrate the inaugural ceremony of the school with colourful origami and Jhum farmer Santhak Mro, who was given the honour of ringing the first-morning bell of the school.

Reporter's age: 14 | Dhaka