34 Inmates Receive Prizes, Report Cards in New Bell Prison

Some 34 minor inmates who attended a special school in the New Bell Central Prison, Douala received their Third Term report cards and prizes on Thursday, June 14. The school, a major innovation in Cameroon prisons, is the fruit of collaboration between the civil society and government through the Ministries of Justice and Social Affairs.

Pioneered by the association, Humanitarian Social Charity (CHASOH), the objective of the school that held within the prison during the 2011/2012 academic year, is to enhance the skills of the children who had hitherto been deprived of education as a result of their being in jail.

The course started in 2010 and 2011 with the support of the Littoral Regional Delegations of Youth and Social Affairs and their operational technical units. Beneficiaries were introduced to writing, reading, calculation (Arithmetic) and Information and Communication Technology (Word, Excel, Power point, etc) for those who had already been to school.

CHASOH offered two computers. The handing over ceremony coincided with activities marking the 2012 Week of the African Child with focus on the rights of the child. Mrs. Magne Tagne Tapia, CHASOH President, said the training was important because the right to education was inalienable to every child, no matter the milieu. "It's in line with the psychosocial and educational follow up of minors to encourage future social re-integration and thereby eliminate exclusion and discrimination," she explained. She urged government to institute prison schools and formalise their certificates for easy socio-professional re-integration.