Advancing Preschool Education in Cameroon: Towards Equitable Access and Community Engagement
Executive Summary
Cameroonian government, aligning itself with the recommendations of Incheon in Korea, has made an international commitment to ´ensure equitable, inclusive, quality education for all and lifelong learning opportunities´. Through programme 101, ´Development of Preschool´, the government´s objective is to increase the rate of preschooling throughout the national territory. Specifically, the government wants to ensure preschool coverage through community experience for the benefit of rural populations with the involvement of the Decentralized Territorial Communities (CTD) and encourage the private sector to develop the formal preschool offer.The Education and Training Sector Strategy Document (DSSEF 2013-2020) has already laid the foundations for this undertaking by expanding the coverage of preschool education to the whole country, with an emphasis on the community approach while encouraging private initiatives. At the same time, the Government aims to increase the gross rate of pre-schooling to 50% by 2025. This global vision aimed at extending the preschool policy mainly targets rural areas that are not yet sufficiently covered. The strategy recommended to achieve this is to promote the community approach through the establishment of Community Preschool Centers (CPC).
Implementation
The community approach to preschool implements aspects of inclusion in relation to the disparities observed in the communities. Thus, in these schools, children from poor and disadvantaged families, children from indigenous populations, vulnerable children, refugees and internally displaced persons are welcomed. Moreover, this approach is holistic in the sense that several sectors intervene to ensure the well-being of the child. To do this, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSANTE) deals with aspects related to vaccination; To enroll a child in school, they must provide their vaccination records. In the same vein, it carries out health and well-being activities towards the targets (Management Committees, CTDs, parents, students and facilitators) to facilitate working and learning conditions and so as to promote a healthy, protective environment, pleasant to live in, which would improve their health, lower the comorbidity rate and drastically reduce the number of deaths within this population. The objective here is to create a daily tool that is both fun and educational that will allow the educational community (students, facilitators, parents, etc.) to familiarize themselves with the gestures and practices of good health or to develop strategies for the acquisition of skills favorable to health, but also autonomy and responsibility in early childhood; all this in order to develop specific skills in the latter who will become actors of their own health.
Stakeholders and partners involved
The community-based preschool policy targets 16,539 learners and 597 facilitators.
Stakeholders: MINEDUB, MINSANTE, MINAS, MINPROFF, MINDDEVEL, MINJUSTICE.
Partners: the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, AFD, WHO, ICESCO, UN Women, UNAIDS, WFP, FAO, Plan International Cameroon.
NGOs and associations: The Chantal BIYA Foundation, the Chantal Biya International Reference Center (CIRCB), Sight Savers, NASCENT solutions, APEE, AME.
Impact
The community-based preschool development policy has increased the preschool enrollment rate from 32% to 38.83% in 2020. Children in rural areas can now access preschool education.
Innovations
The Importance of Parental Involvement for a Comprehensive Approach to a Child´s Well-being
The innovation and the success factor is parental education. Because, for a holistic care of the child, the involvement of the parents is necessary. And for them to succeed in the supervision of children, they must be competent. It is in this sense that the programme has developed parent education training modules to empower parents to ensure the well-being of their children.
Constraints
The multiplication of trainers specializing in early childhood education; Increase in the number of teachers and institutions dedicated to community preschool centers; Multiplication of school canteens, water points, playgrounds and sanitary facilities in community preschool centres
The Significance of Parental Education and Preschool Education in Ensuring a Smooth Transition to Primary Education
Parental education is a major asset for the success of early childhood policy. Preschool prepares children for a harmonious integration of early childhood into the primary cycle.