PAEQUE (Project to improve equity and quality of education)
Access to education in some regions of Cameroon has deteriorated in recent months: the Far North region is suffering repeated attacks from Boko Haram, refugees from the Central African Republic are pouring into the eastern region, and the English-speaking regions of the south-west and north-west are in the throes of a political crisis.
Since 2007, GPE has supported the education sector in Cameroon and has allocated grants totaling US$100.7 million. The current programme, the PAEQUE (Project for the improvement of equity and quality of education), is mainly focused on improving the quality of the educational offer and the promotion of equity which translate into concrete actions such as:
Improving literacy and arithmetic skills, in order to enable students to acquire a good foundation in reading and arithmetic, GPE contributes to the distribution of reading and arithmetic textbooks in public schools. More than one million textbooks and teaching guides have been distributed within this framework, contributing to the improvement of the pupil/textbook ratio from 12:1 in 2012 to 6:1 in 2017.
Strengthening teachers’ skills and improving their working conditions. The suspension of recruitment of primary school teachers into the civil service and the lack of financial resources for education have had serious consequences on the quality of the educational offer. Poorly paid or unpaid teachers ended up deserting classrooms, forcing some communities to seek other alternatives such as hiring “parent teachers”.
This practice is very common, especially in rural areas. However, the majority of these “parent teachers” had no initial training in teaching. To deal with this problem, the government has put in place a system to facilitate the contracting of “parents’ teachers”.
GPE financial support has made it possible to contract 6,000 teachers since 2015. The latest program progress report reveals that 85% of “parent teachers” in disadvantaged areas have been converted to contract teachers. Another wave of 3,000 teachers is planned for the 2017/18 school year.
This initiative is coupled with training. For example, more than 60,000 teachers have received training on the use of textbooks and teaching guides.
Improving pedagogical monitoring and supervision systems
The entire pedagogical supervision chain has been reviewed and strengthened to ensure better monitoring of service delivery in the education sector and to ensure that teachers trained, qualified and paid by the State are available in all regions. To this end, training has been organized for heads of general inspections, coordinating inspectors, as well as people responsible for training relays such as regional, departmental and district inspectors, school principals and teachers. .
Promoting girls’ access to education
Some localities have dominant cultural practices that are not conducive to the education of young girls. In order to increase the school attendance of young girls in the different regions of the country, GPE supports awareness campaigns broadcast by community radio stations in French, English and local languages (Fufulde, Baya, Bamoun and Pidgin). This effort is reinforced by the distribution of kits for young girls with textbooks and other materials.
Thanks to the advocacy efforts of PAEQUE, the Cameroonian government recently adopted a new textbook reform.
In addition to the results of the PAEQUE program, GPE support also enables policy dialogue on key issues in the education sector, in discussion with other partners. This is one of the most important assets that GPE can foster: establishing a platform for partner coordination and dialogue in support of government priorities.
This practice is very common, especially in rural areas. However, the majority of these “parent teachers” had no initial training in teaching. To deal with this problem, the government has put in place a system to facilitate the contracting of “parents’ teachers”.
GPE financial support has made it possible to contract 6,000 teachers since 2015. The latest program progress report reveals that 85% of “parent teachers” in disadvantaged areas have been converted to contract teachers. Another wave of 3,000 teachers is planned for the 2017/18 school year.
This initiative is coupled with training. For example, more than 60,000 teachers have received training on the use of textbooks and teaching guides.
Improving pedagogical monitoring and supervision systems
The entire pedagogical supervision chain has been reviewed and strengthened to ensure better monitoring of service delivery in the education sector and to ensure that teachers trained, qualified and paid by the State are available in all regions. To this end, training has been organized for heads of general inspections, coordinating inspectors, as well as people responsible for training relays such as regional, departmental and district inspectors, school principals and teachers. .
Promoting girls’ access to education
Some localities have dominant cultural practices that are not conducive to the education of young girls. In order to increase the school attendance of young girls in the different regions of the country, GPE supports awareness campaigns broadcast by community radio stations in French, English and local languages (Fufulde, Baya, Bamoun and Pidgin). This effort is reinforced by the distribution of kits for young girls with textbooks and other materials.
Thanks to the advocacy efforts of PAEQUE, the Cameroonian government recently adopted a new textbook reform.
In addition to the results of the PAEQUE program, GPE support also enables policy dialogue on key issues in the education sector, in discussion with other partners. This is one of the most important assets that GPE can foster: establishing a platform for partner coordination and dialogue in support of government priorities.
This practice is very common, especially in rural areas. However, the majority of these “parent teachers” had no initial training in teaching. To deal with this problem, the government has put in place a system to facilitate the contracting of “parents’ teachers”.
GPE financial support has made it possible to contract 6,000 teachers since 2015. The latest program progress report reveals that 85% of “parent teachers” in disadvantaged areas have been converted to contract teachers. Another wave of 3,000 teachers is planned for the 2017/18 school year.
This initiative is coupled with training. For example, more than 60,000 teachers have received training on the use of textbooks and teaching guides.
Improving pedagogical monitoring and supervision systems
The entire pedagogical supervision chain has been reviewed and strengthened to ensure better monitoring of service delivery in the education sector and to ensure that teachers trained, qualified and paid by the State are available in all regions. To this end, training has been organized for heads of general inspections, coordinating inspectors, as well as people responsible for training relays such as regional, departmental and district inspectors, school principals and teachers. .
Promoting girls’ access to education
Some localities have dominant cultural practices that are not conducive to the education of young girls. In order to increase the school attendance of young girls in the different regions of the country, GPE supports awareness campaigns broadcast by community radio stations in French, English and local languages (Fufulde, Baya, Bamoun and Pidgin). This effort is reinforced by the distribution of kits for young girls with textbooks and other materials.
Thanks to the advocacy efforts of PAEQUE, the Cameroonian government recently adopted a new textbook reform.
In addition to the results of the PAEQUE program, GPE support also enables policy dialogue on key issues in the education sector, in discussion with other partners. This is one of the most important assets that GPE can foster: establishing a platform for partner coordination and dialogue in support of government priorities.