The Commission welcomes this year’s theme for the celebration of the International Day of Education, titled “AI and Education: Preserving Human Agency in a World of Automation”, which:
encourages reflections on the power of education to equip individuals and communities to navigate, understand and influence technological advancement, [especially a]s computer and AI-driven systems become more sophisticated, the boundaries between human intention and machine-driven action often blur, raising critical questions about how to preserve, redefine and, ideally, elevate human agency in an age of technological acceleration.
The Commission commends the efforts made by the Government and its partners to create a more dynamic and action-oriented hybrid learning environment to improve learning outcomes in a rapidly changing and interconnected world, in particular, the laying of the foundation stone of the connectivity infrastructure, which is the Digital Innovation and Business Incubation Centre at the Congo-Cameroon Interstate University (with the French acronym: UIECC) of Sangmélima by the Minister of Higher Education (MINESUP) and the Minister of Finance (MINFI), in the South Region, on 28 February 2024.
The Commission is deeply concerned about the continuing violations of the right to education in the Far North as observed by the Far North Branch, following the devastating floods which occurred in that Region on 19 September 2024, causing the destruction of 262 primary and secondary schools and severely disrupting access to education for 103,906 pupils and 1,514 teachers.
The Commission also regrets to note that, after reading the 2022 Report on the Analysis of the Statistical Yearbook for the Education and Training Sector in Cameroon, published by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) in June 2024, only three out of four children (i.e. 75 per cent of children) who start primary school attend class 6, the final year of this cycle.
The Commission notes that out of the 220 recommendations accepted by the State following the adoption of the Report of Cameroon after undergoing the fourth cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 26 March 2024, 14 of these recommendations were on transformative and quality education, inclusion of displaced and refugee students, teachers and scholars as well as other learners; six of the fourteen are in line with the theme of the international day of education (IDE) 2025 and have been distributed by the CHRC to State structures, political parties and civil society organisations (CSOs), each as far as it is concerned.
The Commission encourages all actors in the education sector, including “regional and local authorities, educational establishments and institutions, civil society organisations, the private sector, [...] the media, and all the children, youth, adult and members of their families” to take ownership of the Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development adopted by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) held in Paris from 7 to 22 November 2023, endorsed on 9 October 2024, which aimed to build “peaceful, just, equal, equitable, supportive, inclusive, democratic, healthy and sustainable societies”.
The Commission reiterates the recommendations it made to the Government on the occasion of the 2024 International Day of Education, in particular, the one inviting the Government to actively pursue an open dialogue to address the concerns of teachers and educational staff, in order to prevent the loss of learning, encourage them to become more professional and harness the potential of “new advances and new challenges in the educational context” (UNESCO) in the age of artificial intelligence, in an environment respectful of human rights.
The Commission recommends that educational authorities take transformative measures by providing pupils, students and other learners with appropriate training programmes, including e-learning and new opportunities offered by digital technology – such as artificial intelligence to give everyone access to universal knowledge, know-how, know how to be and to become in all primary, secondary and tertiary education, in public and private institutions.
The Commission recommends the training of teachers in the use of AI, while providing them with appropriate computer equipment and applications for this training, and encouraging them to use it for a greater effectiveness in differentiated assessment of learners, thus reducing the burden of their work and better combat the fraudulent use of AI by learners.
SOME EXTRACTS OF STATEMENT BY THE CHRC TO MARK THE 7th INTERNATIONAL DAY OF EDUCATION, 24 January 2025
SOME EXTRACTS OF THE STATEMENT BY THE CAMEROON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION TO MARK THE 25TH INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, 25 November 2024
SOME EXTRACTS OF THE STATEMENT BY THE CAMEROON HUIMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION TO MARK THE WORLD CHILDREN’S DAY
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