Vocational training: PM instructs expedited commissioning

Hereunder is the press release following the Cabinet Meeting of Thursday, 26 May 2016.

The Prime Minister, Head of Government, Mr Philemon YANG, today Thursday, 26 May 2016, as from 9:00 a.m. chaired a Cabinet Meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office.

In attendance were the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of State, Ministers, Ministers-Delegate and Secretaries of State. The professionalization of education and training was at the centre of proceedings. Two statements and one report were presented in that direction:

1. the Minister for Employment and Vocational Training presented the broad lines of Government policy on apprenticeship,

2. the Minister for Higher Education and the Minister for Secondary Education, for their part, presented reports in their respective spheres, on the implementation of “instructions of the Cabinet Meeting of 31 January 2013 related to the professionalization of education”.

In his opening statement, the Head of Government pointed out that today’s Cabinet Meeting was a follow-up to the recent International Economic Conference, held in Yaounde under the theme, “Investing in Cameroon, Land of Attractiveness”. One of its resolutions called for “accelerating the professional training of technicians and engineers, so critical to the country’s industrialization, especially for anchor projects and our agricultural economy.”

Taking the floor for the first presentation, the Minister in charge of employment dwelled on the main guidelines of Government’s policy on apprenticeship being reformulated in the more global context of the vocational training policy, of which it is a key component. The diagnostic assessment made during the National Apprenticeship Forum, organized in July 2015, brought out the limitations of the present system, characterized by the predominance of informal apprenticeship relations.

The Minister indicated that establishing an effective system of apprenticeship will bring us closer to the target of 200,000 ready-to-be-employed persons trained annually, whereas standard vocational training currently offers only 35,000 places nationwide.

To that end, the legislative and regulatory framework should be updated, sources of financing identified, a stronger public-private partnership forged in this sub-sector, the guidance of young school drop-outs improved and the certification system better adjusted to current realities.

The Minister in charge of employment announced that the new apprenticeship model being finalized with the support of Swiss and US Cooperation will soon get to the experimental phase. The State will sign conventions with a number of professional organizations and enterprises for its implementation. This new model should also run in tandem with the standard vocational training system, through the commissioning of the Vocational Training Centres of Excellence in Douala, Sangmelima and Limbe and the Sector-based Vocational Training Centres of Douala and Edea.

After this statement, the Head of Government asked the Minister for Employment and Vocational Training to submit to him draft instruments related to the legal framework of apprenticeship and to expedite the commissioning of Vocational Training Centres of Excellency.

Proceedings continued with the reports of the Ministers for Higher Education and Secondary Education on the implementation of instructions on the professionalization of education received during the Cabinet Meeting of 31 January 2013. Professionalization at the level of higher education gained momentum with the change to the BMD (Bachelors-Masters-PhD) system. Today, technological and professional streams absorb over one-quarter of total enrolments, equivalent to 136,349 students nationwide.

Specifically, the implementation of the prescriptions of the Head of Government was seen in the start of the activities of the Higher Technical Teacher’s Training College of Kumba, the creation of business nurseries in five State universities and the creation of more professional streams - 27 in State universities and 18 for the Higher National Diploma (HND).

Standard university faculties also embarked on professionalization seen in the hundreds of cinematographic or commercial works produced by students of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Yaounde I pursuing Professional Masters programmes in cinematic production.

The Minister for Higher Education also pointed out that the restructuring of the medical, pharmaceutical and odonto-stomatology streams, which is already effective, is yielding satisfactory results. Regarding prospects, the Minister said that the option to diversify technological training avenues is ongoing, especially with the opening of the School of Chemical and Mineralogical Industries of the University of Ngaoundere at the start of the 2016/2017 academic year, the creation of a School of Ocean and Maritime Studies, the opening of a stream for meteorological engineers at the Advanced School of Engineering and the project under study to open a water and hydropower stream. He also announced the restructuring of the training of engineers, the reform of HND curricula to prioritize streams requested by employers and the imminent holding of “curricula meetings”.

Professionalization at the level of secondary education applies to general and technical education as well as to teacher training. It is implemented in three focus areas and constitutes a specific budgetary programme for the 2016-2019 three-year period.

The first focus area has to do with the creation of trades high schools, reflected in the opening of the agricultural high school in each region. Five sites to host such high schools have been identified in the Adamawa, East, North, West and South-West Regions. Further, twelve (12) training terms of reference suited to the different agro-ecological zones of our country have been prepared and approved. At the same time, agricultural streams have been created in the Higher Technical Teachers Training Colleges (HTTTC) of Kumba and Bambili and will turn out the first batch of teachers at the start of the 2016-2017 academic year.

For its part, the agricultural higher school of Yabassi, constructed with CFAF 8 billion financing from Chinese Cooperation, will open its doors in September 2016.

The Minister for Secondary Education pointed out that other sub-sectors are also concerned, such as the dedicated hotel and tourism trades high schools of Limbe and Kribi, the industrial trades high school of Douala and the building and construction trades high school of Yaoundé-Ekounou.

The second focus area concerns the development of promising sub-sectors and the restructuring of training terms of reference. It will foster training diversification with the opening of streams such as bakery-pastries, jewellery, leathercraft-tannery, biomedical hospital maintenance, or biological and medical/health science and techniques.

The last area has to do with intensifying partnership with socio-professional circles. Its implementation has helped to lay the foundations for work-study programmes and industrial internship for students to remedy the shortage of equipment in schools. Similarly, the continuing training of teachers has been systematized through refresher courses being organized in industrial settings for an average of 500 teachers every year in 150 enterprises.

The Minister-Delegate in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also broached an aspect on professionalizing the agricultural training given in some one hundred Government and private schools under the supervision of MINADER, whose new paradigm is to prepare learners for agricultural entrepreneurship.

After noting these reports, the Prime Minister asked the Minister for Employment and Vocational Training to coordinate work to strengthen coherence of all Governmental vocational training initiatives and to submit to him proposals in that direction.

The Cabinet Meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m., after the consideration of other miscellaneous points linked to Government work./-

Yaounde, 26 May 2016

Séraphin Magloire FOUDA,

Secretary-General of the

Prime Minister’s Office