UNESCO reveals raised over 26 billion FCFA to boost education in Cameroon.

The funds, it was disclosed, will be used to modernise school curricula and train more than 28,000 education professionals.

Officials said the support is yet another example of UNESCO's firm commitment to supporting all its Member States in their efforts to achieve universal access to education.

With the said new funds, UNESCO and Cameroon will work together to modernise school curricula, with a particular emphasis on multilingual education. 

The UN agency will provide more than 4 million school textbooks and teaching manuals. It will also support the training of 15,000 teachers as well as 13,000 headteachers, trainers and educational professionals.

Also, the initiative will provide school meals to children from the poorest families to further support their schooling. The said initiative in Cameroon joins those already undertaken by UNESCO in many other African countries.

In recent years, the Organization has notably raised $15.7m for education in Burundi, $48.2m in Chad, $39.5m in Côte d’Ivoire, and $10.7m in the Republic of Congo – again as part of the Global Partnership for Education. 

At a time when the African Union has dedicated 2024 as the year of education, UNESCO is once again demonstrating its role as a leading partner of African states in this field.

UNESCO's educational TV channel

As part of her visit to Cameroon, UNESCO Director General, Audrey Azoulay, also visited the Yaounde Distance Education Centre, set up in 2020 to ensure the continuity of learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With the health emergency having subsided, the centre has found a new purpose in spreading educational content to pupils living in the most remote areas of the country. 

It now boasts more than 300 teachers who have already created and distributed online more than 1,800 multilingual courses covering every general and technical secondary education subject.

The Yaounde Centre will take on a new role this year, hosting the very first recording studios for EDUCA-TV, UNESCO's new educational channel. 

Broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the television channel will offer two types of programmes: school content to help students prepare for exams, and non-formal education content on issues such as public health, environmental protection and media and information literacy. It will be accessible free of charge in twenty countries across the region.

Cameroon praised

The Director General of UNESCO also took part in the International Literacy Day celebrations, hosted this year by Cameroon at the initiative of President Paul Biya. 

The event was an opportunity for Audrey Azoulay to pay tribute to Cameroon's efforts in promoting multilingual education, while recalling that 40% of the world population still do not have access to education in their native language.

The celebrations were marked by the presentation of the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes, which each year seek to reward outstanding literacy initiatives around the world. 

The six winners - from Austria, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria and Panama - received grants ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 to support the continuation of their projects.

With 194 Member States, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization contributes to peace and security by leading multilateral cooperation on education, science, culture, communication and information.

Headquartered in Paris, UNESCO has offices in 54 countries and employs over 2300 people. UNESCO oversees more than 2000 World Heritage sites, Biosphere Reserves and Global Geoparks; networks of Creative, Learning, Inclusive and Sustainable Cities; and over 13 000 associated schools, university chairs, training and research institutions. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3228 of Friday September 13, 2024