Overcoming all odds, Rohingya refugee girl Tasmeedah Johar becomes first graduate in India

New Delhi: 26-year-old Tasmeedah Johar is the first female Rohingya graduate from India, she came from her native Myanmar to Bangladesh and then to India, fulfilling her dream of getting an education. She believed that education was the easiest way to get ‘freedom”.

Tasmeedah graduated in December 2022. She has a B.A. (P) from Delhi University’s Open University and is presently awaiting a letter of confirmation from Wilfrid Laurier University in Toronto. This August, she most likely will depart for Canada to pursue her higher studies.

She had to adapt to new cultures and languages while changing her name, “home,” age, and country twice, with a third change likely occurring later this year. All as a result of her situation

In order to pursue her ambition, this little Rohingya girl first fled persecution in her native Myanmar and arrived in the largest refugee camp in the world in Bangladesh.

According to Tasmeeda Johar, this is not her true name. Because you cannot live and study in Myanmar with a Rohingya name, the name has been changed. “My name is Tasmin Fatima but to study in Burma you can’t have a Rohingya name, you have to have a Buddhist name, therefore I had to alter my name,” she explains. She continues, “My VNHCR card indicates I’m 26, but I’m actually 24. Our Rohingya parents in Myanmar typically give us an extra two years so we can get married sooner. After the age of 18, marriage is challenging.”

She claims that the Rohingya community is not tolerated by the government of Myanmar. In school, we were in separate classes. On the farthest bench in the exam room, we used to sit. Your name won’t be on the merit list even if you graduated first in your class in grade 10. A Rohingya must travel to Yangon in order to attend college.

Children from the Rohingya community face barriers to education that prevent them from receiving an education on par with mine. She continues by saying that despite these challenges, we graduate yet cannot find employment. We are not allowed to vote or sit in government offices.