DIGITAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
MINESEC Engages with Google Cloud to Boost Digital Skills in Cameroonian Youths.
The Ministry of Secondary Education opens up to the Cloud technology to enable students take up current and future challenges with ease. This was during an audience Professor Nalova Lyonga, Minister of Secondary Education, granted Félix Manoharan, Head of Strategy for Higher Education in Europe, Middle-East and Africa from Google Cloud, on Wednesday, 3 November 2021.
The envoy from the USA-based IT giant came to discuss the introduction of Cloud programmes in secondary schools to bridge the skills’ gaps in the digital domain and enable Cameroonian youth find their vocations in this highly promising sector.
Based on the fact that, education in Africa has not benefitted from the huge technological advancements witnessed over the last decade, Félix Manoharan expressed the wish to see MINESEC and Google start a pilot project to introduce Google Cloud programmes in secondary schools. The project to be implemented in a few selected secondary schools comprises two major components: the acquisition of the IT infrastructure necessary for its deployment and a training component to develop skills and competences in both teachers and learners on the Cloud technology.
The immediate benefit of the project will be to boost the teaching of Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and empower Cameroonian youths, boys and girls alike, so that they can be able to engage in digital careers.
The Secondary Education Minister fully approved the project and expressed her readiness to start its pilot implementation. MINESEC was satisfied with the project’s objectives and received guarantees regarding privacy issues, data security as well as the security and the affordability of the infrastructure needed.
Through this project, Google intends to make Cameroon a hub of Cloud competences all over Africa, as the country will be the first to run Google Cloud programmes in schools on the continent.
Aimé Ngidjol
CELCOM