The Teaching Post

A unique refugee school in Bogor gets help from the local and global media.

- Shamsiya Mohammadi

The Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre (CRLC) is perhaps one of the most unique educational institutions in Indonesia. Set up by refugees in 2014, it was relatively unknown until it was catapulted from obscurity after a slew of local and international media coverage and an engaging Australian documentary.

Located in Bogor, CRLC was set up by Hazara refugees, coming from Afghanistan and Pakistan, who were stuck in Indonesia in what was meant to be a waystation before resettlement as asylum seekers in a Western country such as Australia or Canada. However, as they await permission for entry they found themselves—about 5,000 in total—stuck in limbo, not knowing when—or even if—they could ever leave Indonesia, as the global resettlement rate is below 1%, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UN- HCR) data.

So, four years ago, two refugees established the CRLC, the first school exclusively for refugees in Indonesia. “I couldn’t tolerate children playing in the streets with nothing to do, no rights or status,” says CRLC co-founder Muzafar Ali. “It was our disadvantage that drove us to do something good for our kids.”