PM demands intensification of Physical Education

PRESS RELEASE

Below is the press release following the Cabinet meeting of Thursday March 26, 2015.

The Prime Minister, Head of Government, His Excellency Philemon Yang, today, March 26, 2015 as from 9:00 a.m. chaired an important Cabinet Meeting in the main building of the Prime Minister's Office complex.

In attendance were the Vice-Prime Minister, Ministers of State, Ministers, Ministers-Delegate and Secretaries of State.

Three statements featured on the agenda are:

1. The statement by the Minister for Sports and Physical Education on the "Achievements and Challenges of the Physical Education Promotion Policy";

2. The report by the Minister for Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries on the first results from the "Implementation of Second-generation Agriculture in the Livestock and Fishery Sub-sector";

3. The statement by the Minister for Housing and Urban Development on the "Building and Housing Standards in Cameroon".

The Minister in charge of Sports indicated that the Physical Education Promotion Policy had changed significantly in the last few years. The attendant transformations were in line with the recommendations of the Sports and Physical Education Forum, organised in Yaounde from November 27 to 30, 2010. The corresponding landmark law of July 15, 2011 form the corner-stone of that policy.

Teaching methods of physical education programmes in schools were renovated while the status of physical education was upgraded in school curricula and official examinations, by a Prime Ministerial Order signed on September 10, 2012. All these innovations have raised students' interest in physical education.

Although they now receive all allowances granted to other secondary school teachers, physical education instructors are still in short supply, with a ratio of 1 instructor for 700 students in government schools.

Furthermore, only 45.33% of Government schools have these instructors with wide regional disparities observed. The minister revealed that the question of sports infrastructure in schools remains very disturbing due to non-compliance with the provisions of Law No. 74/22 of December 5, 1974 relating to sports and socio-educative facilities, which makes the presence of sports installations obligatory as part of the creation of schools.

Broaching physical education outside the school milieu, the Minister in charge of Sports recalled that the relevant government policy is based on the strong recommendations of WHO and UNESCO. He situated in this context the institutionalization of the National Physical Education Day celebrated on the first Saturday of the month of June for the past nine years.

This symbolic awareness-raising action is supplemented by an infrastructural approach backed by the Head of State, donor of the Parcours Vita sports facilities in Yaounde, Douala and Bamenda.

These reference facilities will be supplemented by sports/leisure platforms in some other secondary towns thanks to the signing of framework agreements as part of the partnership between the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education and FEICOM.

After the ensuing debates, the Head of Government instructed the minister to increase the supply of physical education in and outside the school milieu.

The Cabinet Meeting proceedings continued with the report of the Minister for Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, which revealed that four years after the Ebolowa Agro-Pastoral Show, the "implementation of second-generation agriculture in the livestock and fisheries sub-sector" is promising.

Three programmes were implemented by his ministry, namely: (i) Development of animal production and industries; (ii) Improvement of animal health coverage and zoonotic disease control; and (iii) Development of fishery productions, actually foster the quantitative and qualitative development of the national supply of animal proteins.

He noted in that regard that key animal husbandry stations have been rehabilitated, high-yield spawners imported while insemination techniques are gradually disseminated. Prospects for dairy production are bright, thanks to the dairy production development component of the Agricultural Productivity Improvement Programme.

The minister pointed out that the Agropoles Programme allowed for the creation of a poultry agropole in Bomono-Douala, a pork agropole in Kribi and a fish agropole in Bankim. He also mentioned other noteworthy actions undertaken in terms of financing, training and supervision of farmers.

With regard to the exploitation of fishery resources, the imminent commissioning of the Limbe Nautical and Fishery Trades Institute will foster the modernization of techniques.

In apiculture, the completion of the labeling process of Oku White Honey as a geographic indicator of the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) will enable beekeepers to make in-roads into international markets.

Charting immediate prospects, the Minister in charge of livestock mentioned the industrialisation of the bovine, porcine and poultry sub-sectors as part of the Contingency Plan for fast-tracking growth which made it possible to build modern slaughter-houses and cold stores.

He also mentioned the numerous job opportunities in the sub-sector under his charge, especially as part of the Youth Entrepreneurship Promotion Project to be implemented in the coming six years for a total cost of CFAF 33.5 billion and 20,160 direct jobs created by 2021.

The Prime Minister's instructions to the Minister for Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries aimed at improving conditions for implementing various programmes in his ministry, which guarantee an increase in animal and fishery productions.

Lastly, the floor was given to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development for his statement on applicable building and housing standard. He made a distinction between technical standards of manufacture and use, on the one hand, and legal standards, on the other hand. Both categories of standards are tools used for the sustainable and controlled development of towns in a context where Cameroon registers an urbanisation rate of over 52%.

Standardisation in construction and housing makes it possible to (i) structure and supervise the sector through standard products and procedures, (ii) streamline costs through economies of scale, (iii) industrialise production and especially (iv) ensure the safety and security of constructions and installations.

The assessment presented by the Minister highlighted the existence of disparate legal standards, different legislations and regulations, whose consolidation is envisaged in the Housing and Construction Code.

The Standardization and Quality Agency (ANOR) made it possible to adopt 201 international technical standards on constructions, which were approved in 2014. Since 2002, the Local Materials Promotion Authority has, for its part, approved six national standards on materials, including clay bricks.

After this statement, the Head of Government asked the Minister in charge of housing to complete the drafting of the Housing and Construction Code.

The Cabinet Meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m./-

Yaounde,

Louis Paul MOTAZE,

Secretary-General of the

Prime Minister's Office