By Numh Rogers in Yaounde
“Education is an over-lapping millennium development goal which if well tailored to suit the job market, has the potential to accelerate the attainment of the MDGs and the much desired sustainable development goals,” Mr. Ngalim reiterated.
The incidence of youth unemployment in Cameroon is high, standing at 33% according to 2010 statistics. The country’s weak economic growth of 3.5 per annum since 2000 has not helped to reduce the phenomenon. Government schemes like the recruitment of 25000 young graduates, announced in 2011, also did not solve the problem. Even the 200.000 new jobs projected for this year fall short of a long-lasting solution.
CAMYOSFOP believes the way out is professionalizing studies and partnering with companies for internship programs. The paper suspects that priority should be given to the creation of technical and vocational colleges, especially those specializing in agriculture, construction and Information and Communication Technology. Tax waivers should be given to companies to provide internship to young graduates from these schools. While equally advocating self-employment, the policy paper concludes that transforming the educational system while creating new jobs is the only way out of this situation.
‘The Voice of the Youth on Education sector reform for youth employment’ was done with participation of experts like Prof. Verkijika Fanso of University of Yaounde 1 and Charles Linjap, a development consultant. It was sponsored by the Fedrich Ebert Stiftung, which has been collaborating with the Cameroon Youth and students forum for peace since 2006.
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