Govt to build Shishu Palli for orphan Rohingya children

The government has taken an initiative to build ‘Shishu Palli’, a kind of residence, for protecting the orphan Rohingya children.

“The government has a plan to construct Shishu Palli in next month...after identifying the orphan Rohingya children,” said Syeda Ferdous Akhter, additional director of the Department of Social Services (DSS).

In the last 30 days since September 20, the government has identified 18,449 Rohingya orphan child and the project is being implemented through the Myanmar National Orphan Child Programme, said said Akhter who also a coordinator of the programme.

The DSS official, however, said that the construction works of the Shishu Palli might be lingered as the Rohighya people are still coming from neighboring Myanmar.

The social service department is engaged for registering the orphan child from the Rohinghya camps. Orphan children have been classified into four categories---who lost parents, who lost only father, physically disabled and children missing their parents.

The government is enrolling the orphan child up to 18 years.

The enrolling have already been completed at five Rohingya camps in Tekhnaf, said the DSS official, adding that now they are working on at two big camps-Kutupalang and Balukhali.

Identified orphans will get smart card from the Department Social Services, said Pritam Kumar Chowdhury, Deputy Director of Cox’s Bazar Office of DSS.

The estimated number of the orphan Rohingya child might be up to 25,000, said the official.

The project has been initiated after directive given by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. For this purpose a special ‘safe zone’ would be built for the Rohingya orphan children.

Scores of Rohingyas have been killed in ongoing violence in Rakhain state in Myanmar since August 25 and many orphan children with their relatives forced to flee and entered into Bangladesh.

Source: BSS