A COOPERATION TO BOOST SECONDARY EDUCATION IN CAMEROON.
The Minister of Secondary Education, Prof Nalova Lyonga, granted an audience to a delegation from the Commonwealth Secretariat, led by Evelyn Pedersen (Head of Strategy, Learning & Evaluation), on Thursday, 15 June 2023 at the Distance Education Centre. The working session aimed at assessing the state of cooperation between the Commonwealth and Cameroon in the sector of secondary education.
This working session was held in presence of Mr Bayaola Boniface (MINESEC Secretary of State), Prof Nkot Fabien (MINESEC Secretary General), Mrs Anne Oben, Commonwealth Director at the Ministry of External Relations, Head of MINREX delegation. The meeting was a cordial and fruitful exchange on aspects of collaboration between the Commonwealth Secretariat and Cameroon, and an opportunity to harmonize actions undertaken by MINESEC and MINREX in connection to this collaboration.
The encounter allowed the Commonwealth Secretariat to identify key aspects on which they could strengthen their cooperation with Cameroon in the domain of education, their main working method being to respond to the country’s articulated needs and strategies (in order to align with the country’s policy, legislation and education framework). The delegation was given an overview of Cameroon’s strategy in the education sector. As such, among others, the cooperation would focus on:
-Helping to palliate the lack of teachers in some fields;
-Putting more input in training trainers;
-Strengthening the capacity of students to become creators of jobs/entrepreneurs (technical and vocational schools);
-Supporting MINESEC in the digitalization of teaching;
-Facilitating exchanges between the Cameroonian education sector and other Commonwealth countries (with the help of MINREX).
The Commonwealth Secretariat appreciates and is ready to support the initiative undertaken by Cameroon to boost Gabon and Togo bilingualism, Cameroon having a long experience in French/English bilingualism. Gabon and Togo, two countries with no historic ties to Britain, became the 55th and 56th members of the Commonwealth on 25 June 2022.
The meeting of this day goes in the same line with the audience the Minister of Secondary Education granted to the visiting President of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, Lord Jonathan Peter Marland, on Wednesday, 11 October 2022, still at the Distance Education Centre. They brainstormed on ways to carry forward distance education in Cameroon.
May this cooperation with the Commonwealth Secretariat grow firmer and the result positively impact our education system.
ABILAMEKOU B. THEODORE
SENIOR OFFICIAL/CELCOM