Girl Child Education : The Time For Refugee Children Is Now!

Gradually, and perhaps without much public notice, a little revolution is taking place amongst Central African Republic, CAR refugees - especially the Moslems. Resident in the border town of Garoua Boulai. In Lom and Djerem Division of Cameroon’s East Region. The tragedy of recurrent civil strife back home, which sent all of them - at different periods - scampering across the border into safety in Cameroon, is today turning into a blessing. Of sorts! Who could have imagined this! A few years ago? Looking back at how long they have come, it now seems like a dream! Yet, it is reality!

Sensitisation Does The Trick
“Apart from COVID-19, we also sensitise our community members on Gender-based Violence, early marriage, undesired pregnancies and the need for young girls to also go to school. Refugee women now demand that the old practice of sending only boys to school must end!” says Mariam Abdelkader, a female refugee youth leader in Garoua Boulai. “Our men listen to us and sometimes try to justify their choice by arguing that it is for want of means that girls are not sent to school. To this, we reply that public schools in Cameroon are free. Refugee children used to pay a token of 2,500 FCFA, though the amount was later increased to 5,000 FCFA,” notes the 32-year-old. Who was widowed by the war in her country.  

Assuring Education For Their Girls
Determined to ensure that girl children receive education, Mariam and her fellow refugee women take upon themselves to meet and negotiate with public school head teachers for refugee parents to pay the token in little instalments. While the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, takes charge of certificate examination dues. “We raise money to pay the token tuition dues of children of vulnerable refugees. For us association members who are Community Health Workers, when we receive the monthly stipend of 30,000 FCFA, each person contributes 5,000 FCFA into the assistance fund. Non-working members also chip in something,” says the leader of “Jeunes refugies conscients et solidaires.”

UNICEF’s Contribution
Another CAR female refugee in Garoua Boulai, Ousmane Assaitou, 41, has a more telling tale about girl child education. “I am married, with four children. I am so grateful to UNICEF. The sensitisation messages we receive from them prompted me to send my first two children back to school. They had long abandoned education in CAR. Back in our country, I didn’t realise the importance of education, especially for the girl child. But in Cameroon, the situation is different!” Assaitou admits. “I arrived in Cameroon since 2014 and my two children returned to school the following year. The first, Aboubakar Youssouffa, is now in third year in university in Douala, sponsored by UNHCR since Form Three when he resumed schooling. The second child, a girl, is in Lycee Classique, Garoua Boulai, still on the sponsorship of UNHCR,” Assaitou explains.

UNHCR Sponsorship
“Any refugee who does not send their child to school does so out of their sheer neglect. Even without means, if they send their children to school, UNHCR will assist them. When Aboubakar Youssouffa left high school in 2020, my family raised some money to enable him register in the university. UNHCR then took over and has been sponsoring him in “Universite de la Côte” in Douala where the annual tuition is at least 500,000 FCFA. He is reading the sciences,” she points out. Ousmane Assaitou’s other two children were already married.

The Way Is Open!
“Because of sensitisation on girl child education, Assaitou allowed her last daughter to resume schooling in Cameroon. She is now 16, and is in high school. If she were in CAR, she would long have been forced into early marriage,” comments Mariam Abdelkader. Who adds: “In Cameroon, the law is enforced. Girls are not allowed to ...