Summary: "The situation of the education sector across Rakhine state is of serious concern. Standards fall well behind the rest of Myanmar across a wide range of indicators, from primary and secondary enrolment to teacher/student ratios. Problems in the Rakhine?s education sector have been attributed to a range of inter-connected factors, including poverty and underdevelopment, shortages of schools and teachers, limited teacher training opportunities, inadequate and dilapidated structures and facilities, shortages of materials and the low quality of the education delivered. Problems in Rakhine?s education sector have been exacerbated by historical inter-communal tensions between Buddhist and Muslim communities, particularly since the most recent eruption of conflict in 2012. An estimated 60,000 children aged 3-17 years residing in internal displacement camps are not accessing formal education, while existing education facilities in communities hosting displaced populations have been put under tremendous strain.1 More broadly, concerns over security have weakened teacher attendance in conflict-affected areas, while a combination of movement restrictions and ongoing tensions have raised additional barriers to children?s attendance of often-distant middle schools and high schools.2 Three years since the outbreak of conflict, donors and aid agencies are seeking to expand the scope of assistance activities in Rakhine beyond the provision of humanitarian aid to encompass more early recovery and development-focused programming. In this changing context, REACH was mobilised to facilitate a joint education needs assessment for the Rakhine Education in Emergencies (EiE) Sector. The objective of the assessment was inform medium-term programming, planning and advocacy strategies by providing evidence on the current state of education quality, utilisation and access. The assessment covered schools and communities in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Sittwe, Pauktaw, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya and Myebon townships, and was conducted in collaboration with EiE sector partners Plan International, Save the Children International, Lutheran World Federation and UNICEF. Data collection took place between September and October 2015. The study adopted a mixed methods approach of 1) a purposively-sampled assessment of villages and schools in order to assess school utilisation and quality; and 2) age and gender-segregated focus group discussions (FGDs) in order to assess barriers to school access, as well as to provide a deeper contextual understanding of village/school assessment data. The assessment was not designed to produce statistically representative data, but to highlight important issues and trends in the education system across the study area. In total, the team assessed 148 learning spaces in 116 villages, spread over a total of 19 village tracts in 9 townships. Assessed education facilities included 77 basic education and branch schools, 9 affiliated schools, 2 monastic schools, 1 temporary learning space (TLS), two adolescent spaces and 55 madrasahs. Four focus group discussions were conducted in each township, resulting in a total of 36 discussions. Each set of four discussions included one group of male parents, female parents, male school-age children and female school-age children. Key findings are as follows:..."