Cameroon wants to benefit from Morocco's anti-illiteracy experience
Morocco-Cameroon, Education, 8/13/2003

Cameroon secretary of state in charge of youth, Denis Oumarou, who is currently on a visit to Morocco, said in Rabat on Monday he will probe with Moroccan officials means to make his country benefit from Morocco's experience in education and fighting illiteracy.

Oumarou said in a meeting with Moroccan secretary of state in charge of literacy and non-formal education, Najima Ghozali, that his country has started a large-scale literacy program that mainly consists of training educators by giving a particular interest to women in rural areas where 70 to 75 percent of illiterate people live. The Cameroon official deplored that there are some 5 million illiterate people in Cameroon, that is the third of the population.

Ghozali pointed out that women in Morocco are more affected by illiteracy than men since 62 percent of women do not know how to read and write. According to the official, rural areas are two times more affected by this phenomenon than urban zones with a percentage of 67% of illiterate people aged more than 10 years old in rural areas, that is 2 persons in 3 compared to 34 percent in urban areas.

The Moroccan government made fighting illiteracy and the promotion of non-formal education among its major priorities out of an awareness of the consequences of this handicap that hinders the country's development, she added.

She recalled the national literacy campaign dubbed "march towards enlightenment" that aimed to reduce the current illiteracy rate of 48 percent to 35 percent by the end of 2004 and to less than 20 percent by 2010 in a bid to eradicate it completely by 2015.

Ghozali said her department is ready to collaborate and exchange experiences with Cameroon, particularly in literacy and non-formal education.

Oumarou held talks Monday with his Moroccan counterpart, Mohamed El Gahs on means to reinforce bilateral cooperation.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco hosts session of Arab teachers union   (8/4/2003)
  Over 400,000 people benefit from nationwide literacy campaign   (7/10/2003)
  Three quarters of scholarship applications satisfied in 2002-2003, minister   (7/4/2003)
  Morocco, Cameroon to consolidate cooperation in higher education   (5/11/2000)

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