The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Actions (Ocha) indicates that 1.4 million children need educational assistance in Cameroon.
Ocha adds that these children, of school age, are deprived of “quality education”. Among these children, more than 600 thousand are in an extreme situation in the North-West and South-West (Noso) because of the insecurity that reigns in these two regions in the western part of the country, where irredentist armed groups have been challenging the power of Yaoundé since 2017.
Between January and July 2023, Ocha recorded 13 violent incidents perpetrated in schools or against students by armed groups in Noso. Ocha currently counts 2,245 schools that have remained closed this school year. “In September, during the two-week state of emergency (September 4 to 17) declared by non-state armed groups, schools were forced to close and several people were killed, kidnapped or physically attacked,” reports the United Nations newsletter (UN News).
Insecurity has also affected the quality of education for children in the Far North region due to incursions by the Islamic sect Boko Haram in certain localities. Ocha does not provide any figures on the number of schools that have had to close because of this security crisis. All we know is that 482,000 children do not receive quality education in the Far North region. In addition, not all of these children are out of school. Ocha says some are victims of a disruption in their school schedule due to the increase in flooding in this region.
SBBC
