By Tikum Mbah Azonga
This paper is an adaptation of an earlier one I delivered on the Cameroon National Radio Station on the 16th of April 2003, on the occasion of Global Education Week in that year. The paper was one of the daily political commentaries I delivered on the 6.30 a.m. prime time national and world news on Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV), Yaoundé, between 2002 and 2005.
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Global Education Week is without any doubt, a crucial campaign tool for the girl child, among other beneficiaries, not only here in Cameroon but throughout the world. This is because when it is commemorated, the event brings into sharp focus, the question of gender parity. That is in a nutshell, the message National Education Secretary of State Number 1, Ngafeeson Emmanuel, delivered to the public on the day he launched Global Education Week this year.
As things stand, the Cameroonian girl child, even seen within the framework of her future role as a fully fledged Cameroonian woman, does suffer setbacks, compared with the boy child. For instance, according to a report published by the United Nations Country Team in Cameroon under the title: Progress: Republic of Cameroon, women represent 52 per cent of the country’s poor. Yet, according to the same report, girls do not have the same access to schooling. Figures for example show that in the year 1989-1990, the number of girls as opposed to boys in primary school education had declined from 85 % to 82.1 % in 1997-1998. Even so, the rates conceal large regional disparities, for, northern Cameroon was hardest hit, compared with the other regions.
The already bad situation is aggravated by the incidence of poverty, especially in the rural areas, where once again girls and women have been more affected. Obviously this state of affairs has repercussions on health care, for example, the 2000 edition of the Progress of Nations which is a publication of the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), states that while 3.8 % of boys below 24 in Cameroon were found to be infected by HIV AIDS, the per centage for girls was higher, at 7.8. Another revelation is that some Cameroonian girl children are still too largely victims of genital mutilation. Just like in the case of Cameroonian children` health, that of women has also deteriorated in the last decade. The maternal mortality rate 1998-1999 is high, standing at only 550 per 1000 live births, which accounts for nearly only a 50 % per cent success rate.
The picture at the world level is graphically painted in the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report entitled: The Right to Choose. According to the report, some 585 000 women, that is, one every minute, die each year from pregnancy related-causes. At least 75 million pregnancies each year, out of a total of 175 million, are unwanted and therefore terminated. The result is some 45 million abortions and only over 30 million live births. Decidedly, the need for action is urgent.
© 2009
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11 commentaires:
The article is educative as it brings out the importance of the girl child in the society
The article is educative as it brings out the importance of education for the girl.
Thanks for your comments, Asafor. Keep reading.
TMA
The article is good. i think more should be done in relation to education of the girl child in Cameroon. more action needs to be taken to enforce this.NGOs should look into the issue also. Eleanor Ayuketah
A very educative and revealing piece of writing about education in Cameroon as a whole and the education of girls in particular.It also calls for immediate action to be taken as concerns girl education in Cameroon.Enhances the idea of women empowerment as the women folk need equal education to forge ahead as the male folk.Continue with the good work you are doing.
Eleanor and Felicitas.
Thanks. Our role as media professionals is to highlight such issues so that action can be taken.
TMA
after reading dis work i think it is really good and what drew my attention was the quotation of the report of the United Nations country team in cameroon which says girls do not have access to schooling as boys.Things have changed as we see that girls now have the highest schooling population this can be seen in classrooms as girls dominate boy in number
in deed it is an interesting piece of writing, but more emphasis is being put on the education of women as if the society is a male chauvinistic society. if today we here of women holding big positions in the society, then it's because they have received good educational training. KIVEN BENOIT, JMC LEVEL 200
Sir i must extend my joy and appreciation to you for your good articles in general and for this one in particular. at least you want to make known the value of women in education. kiven benoit
Yes, I think this is important because our newspapers are too full of negative reports as if everything was going wrong and nothing was going right. Yet we know from journalism that to every story there are two sides. Even a man who is caught committing murder still has the right to a fair trial with his own side of the story being duly heard.
TMA
Happy 2010.I must confess the information under (global education and Cameroon )is quite rich).
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