Theme.-Educate and Skill Africa for the 21st
Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to
inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning in Africa
The Commission notes that through the theme of this
year’s African Human Rights Day (AHRD), Educate an Africa fit for the
21st Century: Building Resilient Educational Systems for Increased Access to
Inclusive, Lifelong, Quality and Relevant Learning in Africa, the African Union
(AU) calls on all Member States to develop and implement effective, sustainable
and system-wide transformational strategies for education in Africa and for the
resolution of the constrained education financing landscape, while strengthening
the role of teachers as key agents of transformation, as they must be
adequately supported and empowered to play their part in this process.
The Commission emphasises that the AU’s decision to
focus on education in 2024 follows the assessment of the implementation of the
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 and the AU Continental Education Strategy
for Africa (CESA), in particular Strategic Goal 2 – To Build, rehabilitate, and
sustain education infrastructure and develop policies that ensure a permanent,
healthy and conducive learning environment in all sub-sectors and for all, so
as to expand access to quality education.
The Commission notes that the assessment of Aspiration
6 of Africa’s Agenda for Children 2040, which states that "every child
[should] benefit fully of quality education", shows that coverage of early
childhood education remains very low. Furthermore, the provision of free and
compulsory education faces challenges in terms of the direct and indirect costs
associated with it. In addition, girls are disproportionately affected in terms
of access to and completion of education.
The Commission recalls that Law No. 2023/007 of 25
July 2023 on Higher Education Policy in Cameroon provides in Section 37 (1) on
the quality of teaching that” [t]he teacher is the main guarantor of the
quality of education and shall be entitled, within the limits of available
means, to suitable living conditions and to appropriate initial and in-service
training.
The Commission recalls that out of the 220
recommendations accepted by the State during the adoption of the Report of
Cameroon on the 24 March 2024 after undergoing the fourth cycle of the
Universal Periodic Review (UPR), six are in favour of the protection of
education against attacks and four are related to the right to identity – a
prerequisite for access to education – which the CHRC has distributed to the
relevant players, each as far as it is concerned.
The Commission reiterates the recommendations made in
its previous statements, in particular the one addressed to the Ministry of
Justice to step up the fight against violations of children's rights,
particularly early and forced marriages, which hinder the education of the girl
child and exacerbate educational inequalities, jeopardising their chances of
autonomy in the future.
The Commission recommends that regional and local
authorities, primary and secondary schools, the media, civil society actors and
parents, each as far as they are concerned use education to change harmful
customary practices that support and condone violence against women and girls,
such as the physical, psychological and economic abuse, widowhood abuse and
female genital mutilation (FGM), and to eliminate stereotypes that legitimise
any form of violence against women.
The Commission recommends that the government and its
development partners enhance collaborative efforts to ensure that the right to
education (both in terms of quality and inclusiveness) is upheld and respected.
The right to education is often undermined by the average quality of
infrastructure, the absence or inadequacy of libraries and laboratories, and
the substandard quality of teaching and assessment.
#CHRC
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#Accréditée au Statut A
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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