MINESEC/PADESCE

Boosting young Cameroonian’s skills for employment and economic diversification

The   first session of the Steering Committee (COPIL) of the Secondary Education and Skills Development Project (SESDP) was held on Tuesday 28 February 2023, at Star Land Hotel in Yaounde. The meeting was co-chaired by the Minister of Secondary   Education, Pr Nalova Lyonga and the Minister of Employment and Vocational     Training, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, assisted by their respective Secretaries General. 

This session, attended by representatives of about fifteen ministries, aimed to assess the 2022 closing budgetary year while looking to the draft of the 2023 Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWPB), presented by Dr Paulette Marceline BAYIHA, General Coordinator of the Project. Difficulties were analysed and recommendations formulated during this meeting.

Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary, speaking in his opening speech on behalf of the two Government Members, praised the active governmental solidarity which allows them to co-preside such a significant meeting. He extended the gratitude of the Republic of Cameroon to the World Bank for its wide ranging contribution to the development of Cameroon. He later on presented the various aspects of the Project and its impact on young Cameroonians.

Talking to the press, Pr Nalova Lyonga presented this Project “as something which will help us to change the mind-set of the young people of Cameroon.” She expressed her worry about unemployed young Cameroonians and the Government concerns to compensate for this situation with the help of all sectors: “So what we are doing is that we are taking the children along and expecting that the whole of Cameroon would come along with us so that we take the children right from the bottom going up. That’s what we are doing. That’s why you see all the educational sectors together. It’s a very happy moment to find that all the educational sectors are saying one thing”

The Secondary Education Skills and Development Project (SESDP) is an initiative of the Government of the Republic of Cameroon implemented with the support of the World Bank. SESDP, structured around four (04) components, aims to improve equitable access to quality secondary education and technical and vocational training adapted to the market, with an emphasis on girls. This objective is operationalised through a number of reforms in the following areas:

• the learning environment in general secondary education;
• the capacity building for school heads and new teachers;
• the quality and relevance of skills development packages;
• the strengthening of the skills development system institutional capacity.

Among the main actions advocated through these reforms are the support for at least 30 schools hosting Internal Displaced Learners, the support for the achievement of quality standards in at least 350 schools... Madam the Minister of Secondary Education, Pr Nalova Lyonga, signed on January 30 2023, by Order N° 34/23/MINESEC/CAB, a list of 350 public schools of General Secondary Education to receive support from this Project.

Expectations from SESDP are therefore very high, for a better Cameroon, as declared Pr Nalova Lyonga to the press: “I think that Cameroon is going to be a happy place if the educators are saying the same thing. This is the time that we are reforming education. It is the time to reform education. We are moving ahead and expecting all Cameroonians to come with us”

ABILAMEKOU B. Theodore

Senior Official/CELCOM