Aisha, a 7-year-old Rohingya girl, wakes up every morning chasing her elder sister Asma as the latter gets ready for school in Khajuri Khas, a locality in northeastern Delhi.

Aisha pleads with her elder sister to take her along most days, but her wish is never met. She was denied admission to the same school where her sister studies in seventh grade.

Their father, Hussain Ahmad, a Rohingya refugee who fled Myanmar with his family in 2017, struggles to explain to Aisha why the school authorities have refused her enrollment.

It pains him to see her plead — a constant reminder of the hurdles they face.

"I have been running from one public school to another to get my daughter admitted, but she has been denied everywhere," said Ahmad, a construction worker. "They are depriving her of education. I feel very helpless."

Ahmad said he had submitted all the necessary documents, including United Nations documentation, required for refugee children's enrollment in school. However, the school authorities have stopped considering these papers for admission.

For the past two years, Ahmad said, "authorities have started demanding Indian documents like Aadhaar [a biometric identity card], which we, as refugees, don't possess. Our UNHCR card has become useless," referring to the document issued by the UN refugee agency.

Ahmad's experience resembles those of other Rohingya families in Khajuri Khas. A few meters from his home, Sarwar Kamal, another Rohingya refugee who works as a mobile repair technician, has been making rounds of government schools in the area to secure admission for........

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