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12 'pesantren' ready to shelter Rohingyas: Minister
At least 12 Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) are ready to shelter Rohingya asylum-seekers stranded in Indonesia, especially those children separated from their families, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said Wednesday
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t least 12 Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) are ready to shelter Rohingya asylum-seekers stranded in Indonesia, especially those children separated from their families, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said Wednesday.
'Based on our data collection, there are many Rohingya children left orphaned or separated from their families,' Khofifah said in Magelang, Central Java.
The children needed psycho-social recovery, and for that process they need a suitable place, the minister said.
'Pesantren is a conducive and effective place to function as a shelter,' she said, adding that 12 boarding schools in Malang, Pasuruan and Bojonegoro in East Java; as well as Sukabumi in West Java were ready to shelter the ethnic Rohingyas, from Myanmar.
Khofifah said that many of the 1,250 Rohingya migrants stranded in Southeast Asian countries were separated from their families, with wives stranded in Aceh while husbands were in Malaysia, for example.
The minister said it would need a year to resettle the Rohingyas after which the government would push the international community to assume responsibility for handling them.
Meanwhile, head of the Raudhatut Thullab boarding school in Tempuran, East Java, Said Asrori, said his 500-student capacity school was ready to shelter some 50 Rohingyas.
'We are ready to welcome about 50 children,' he said as quoted by Antara news agency.(+++)
