Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute on, July 21st in Yaounde granted an audiance to Paul Raymond Coustere, the new regional director and representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization  for Central Africa,as he outlined the areas of cooperation of his mandate.

Acoording to Unesco’s ambassador, the organisation wants to help Cameroon to make its education system more capable of withstanding trying times. He states situations like Covid 19 and the ongoing Anglophone crisis which handicapped the educational system in Cameroon.

”We know that there are challenges. We have seen this with Covid. There are other expectations for educational continuity. We are going to work hard to make education more resilient. That is, whatever the shock, children must continue to learn.”

It was observed that, during the pandemic, only 3% of students continued classes as majority did not have adequate tools and basic knowledge to follow online classes. This eventually caused a crack in the academic schedule.

When the coronavirus pandemic imposed strict sanitary measures, UNESCO joined forces with UNICEF to provide the government with 15,000 digital tablets. The aim of these teaching tools, which were distributed to pupils in examination classes in certain schools, was to enable them to learn both face-to-face and at a distance. .

As other areas of cooperation, the senior official mentioned the community radio programme in which the government has placed its trust in UNESCO as a technical partner, but also the enhancement of both natural and intangible heritage of Cameroon.