📋 Tender Overview
During an official visit to Yaounde, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, announced the mobilization of $44.5 million for education in Cameroon. This funding will notably finance the modernization of school curricula and the training of more than 28,000 education professionals.
With this funding, UNESCO and Cameroon will work together to modernize school curricula with priority given to multilingual education. The Organization will provide more than 4 million school textbooks and teaching guides. It will also support the training of 15,000 teachers, 13,000 school principals, trainers and educational managers. Finally, this priority reform provides for the distribution of school meals to children from the poorest families to support their schooling.
This initiative in Cameroon is in addition to those already undertaken by UNESCO in many other African countries. In recent years, the Organization has notably mobilized $15.7 million for education in Burundi, $39.5 million in Cote dIvoire, $10.7 million in Congo and $48.2 million in Chad, again within the framework of the Global Partnership for Education. While the African Union has dedicated the year 2024 to education, UNESCO is thus confirming its role as a leading partner of African States in this field.
20 African countries will have access to UNESCOs educational TV channel
As part of her visit, Audrey Azoulay also visited the Yaounde Distance Education Center, created in 2020 to ensure the continuity of learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the emergency has passed, this center has found a new vocation by broadcasting educational content that benefits students living in the most remote areas of the country. It now has more than 300 teachers who have already produced more than 1,800 multilingual courses covering all disciplines of general and technical secondary education and which are broadcast online.
The Yaounde Centre will take on a new lease of life this year, by hosting the first recording studios of EDUCA-TV, UNESCOs new educational channel. Broadcast 24/7, this television channel will offer two main types of programs: school content to prepare for exams and non-formal education content on issues such as public health, environmental protection and media and information literacy. It will be accessible free of charge in twenty countries in the region.
Cameroon praised for its multilingual education
The Director-General of UNESCO also participated in the celebrations of the , hosted this year by Cameroon at the initiative of President Paul Biya. The event was an opportunity for Audrey Azoulay to salute Cameroons action for multilingual education, while recalling that 40% of citizens around the world still do not have access to education in their native language. These celebrations were marked by the presentation of the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes, which each year recognize model projects around the world. The - from Austria, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria and Panama - received grants ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 to support the continuation of their project. Literacy remains a major global challenge: 754 million adults today (over 15 years old) cannot read or write, including nearly two thirds of women. And three quarters of children aged 10 in developing countries are unable to read and understand a simple text. UNESCO thus calls for the mobilization of all States to make education a reality for all.
About UNESCO
With 194 Member States, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization contributes to peace and security by promoting multilateral cooperation in the fields of education, science, culture, communication and information. UNESCO coordinates a network of more than 2,000 World Heritage sites, biosphere reserves and global geoparks; several hundred creative, learning, inclusive and sustainable cities; and more than 13,000 associated schools, university chairs, training and research centres. Based in Paris, the Organization has offices in 54 countries and employs more than 2,300 people. Its Director-General is Ms Audrey Azoulay. Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed - UNESCO Constitution, 1945.
