Skills development in secondary schools, MINESEC/MINEFOP take initiative to meet needs of labour market

The Minister of Secondary Education, Nalova Lyonga, and her counterpart of the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training Issa Tchiroma Bakary have reiterated the need to reform the General Secondary Education sub-system with a skills development approach.

Speaking on Friday, April 28, at the close of a two-day workshop organized in Douala, the government officials told critical actors of the initiative dubbed Secondary Education and Skills Development Project (SESDP), that the labor market is yet to get the adequate skills needed for the diversification of Cameroon’s economy.

“The system has to upscale the skills of the students,” Secondary Education Minister, Nalova Lyonga said while highlighting the need for students to be less dependent on teachers. “Many of the teachers are looking for greener pastures, and some don’t teach” she noted.

The Minister said a number of schools had been selected for the skills development project. “The SESDP is putting some money at the disposal of these schools”. She did not say what criteria were being used to select the schools. “If you are selected, you are lucky…Find out why your school is selected,” she told participants.

Employment Minister, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, laid emphasis on the need for everyone, especially parents, to take the project seriously. “We are the ones who build poverty and it is our responsibility to get ourselves out of it,” he said.

The two Ministers are being accompanied by their counterparts from the Ministries of Post and Telecommunications (MINPOSTEL), Youth and Civic Education (MINJEC), Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER); Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA), and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts (MINPMEESA).

The Secondary Education and Skills Development Project (SESDP) is an initiative of the government of Cameroon and the World Bank, implemented on 21 December 2021 in Cameroon.