Girl-Child Education: Slow, But Steady Strides

The Gov’t is working alongside national and international organisations to boost girl-child school attendance in the country.   

“If you educate a woman, you educate a family/nation” is a much-cited education adage that has been credited to many people. This popular adage seems inevitable when it comes to the development of any nation. That is why the Government of Cameroon with the help of national and international partners, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that no girl child is prevented from pursuing any form of education. The Ministries of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Basic Education, amongst others, each day are working hand-in-gloves with partners such as UNICEF and Plan Cameroon in enhancing access to education for all girl children in the country. 

The Director for the Promotion and Protection of the Family and the Right of the Child at the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Mrs Maïta says Government works alongside UNICEF, Plan International and others to boost girl-child school attendance: building parent awareness, providing private toilet facilities, offering free textbooks and scholarships to girls, for example. She explained that focus of the Ministry’s activities which is done alongside with the Ministry of Basic Education is mostly focused in the country’s three northern and eastern regions with the poorest girl-child school attendance. In the Far North Region on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, the situation is particularly troubling with fewer than 17 of every 100 girls in school.

Through advocacy and sensitisation campaigns, Maïta says on several occasions, the Ministry has met with traditional rulers and imams as well as female associations in the targeted regions to educate parents and leaders on the importance of educating more girls which would increase the quantity and quality of human resources needed to drive forward their personal development as well as that of the country. It is within such backdrop that last July 24, 2017 in Yaounde, the Minister of Women’s Empowermen...