Cameroon

In CAMEROON Batonga is:

granting scholarships: 20 girls, all AIDS orphans or from families affected by AIDS, have been awarded secondary school or post-secondary scholarships. They began their first year of secondary school in September 2007 and this same scholarship will be paid annually by Batonga until they graduate. The scholarship includes tuition, uniform, school supplies, mentoring and community awareness programs.

In-country NGO partner: African Action on AIDS (AAA).

Background

The Republic of Cameroon in Central Africa is blessed in many ways, most of all its peace loving people and great football players.  It has abundant natural resources  in the form of tropical forests, oil and agriculture exports.  Nevertheless its population is still poor.  With some 250 spoken languages, a population of over 17 million and life expectancy at only 46 years for men and 47 years for women, life is still harsh for the poor.

Almost half the country is under the age of 18. The literacy rate according to the World Bank shows some 77 percent of men over 15 are literate compared to 59 percent of women, although in general, Cameroonian educational statistics are much better than those of many other African countries.

In Cameroon primary school consists of 6 years and secondary school of seven years. In 2004 (the last year for which figures are available) 63 percent of children in school had completed primary school and some 48 percent had moved on to secondary school. What the figures do not show, however, are regional disparities. In the far north there are far fewer girls enrolled in school, dropout rates are higher for girls than for boys as are continuation rates to secondary school and beyond. Girl’s national dropout rates are so high that the net enrollment figure for secondary school is only 20 percent according to UNICEF.

The challenges to girls’ education are similar to those in other countries where local cultural traditions contribute to low demand for education and low public investment in education. But there are challenges to girls’ education that are unique to Cameroon. For example a birth certificate is necessary before children are permitted to take the final exam at primary school, and many girls do not have formal birth certificates and are therefore precluded from competing for space in secondary schools. There have been several attempts over the years to improve both the quality of education and the number of children enrolled in school but inequities remain.

Cameroon also has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in Central Africa, partly due to its transportation trade, and a large and promiscuous military. The city of Douala on the coast is a deep water port and cargo destined for the African interior (Chad, Central African Republic and northern Nigeria) is shipped from there by truck. The trucking route became the initial route for the transmission of the disease, but promiscuity in other sectors also took its toll. In 2003, the last year when data was available, some 69,000 children were living with HIV/AIDS and there were some 210,000 orphans who lost their parents to AIDS. Many of the families affected were middle class and urban, and their surviving children, who might have been the next generation of leaders, suffered disproportionately.

In Cameroon, Batonga will be supporting only girls who are AIDS orphans, or from families affected by AIDS, to get both a secondary and higher education.