A Secondary School for the Central African Republic
For years, Cap Anamur has been building schools in the Central African Republic to provide children with a better education. However, there are still far too few secondary schools in the country.
Our work in recent years has significantly improved the supply of elementary schools, especially in rural areas.
In the last 2 years we have been able to rebuild three elementary school in Bondio, Bowese 2 and Bossongo Café. We are currently expanding the elementary school in Bossembélé, our project site, which has become far too small. Three more classrooms will be built so that even more students can attend the school.
However, secondary schools are not available in rural areas.
However, in addition to the successes we are able to achieve in the expansion of the elementary school system, we are also confronted with problems that we would like to solve in the future.
In the Bossembélé district, there is only one secondary school for the approximately 130,000 people, and that is in the district capital. However, in order to attend this school, the students have to move to the capital, as a daily transfer is not possible. This brings with it not only the cost of housing the children, which many families cannot afford, but also some other problems.
The children, who start secondary school at the age of 12, have to leave their home villages to do so. This leaves them largely on their own, as they no longer have their family structures around them. Without the protection of the family, there is therefore an increase in drug abuse, crime or even prostitution among the young girls, who have to earn their own living in this way.
These circumstances usually lead to parents from rural areas not letting their children go to secondary school. The number of students leaving school at age 12 is therefore very high. Many boys then have to contribute to their families’ income through their own work, and the girls are often married off young.
These circumstances have led Cap Anamur to think about building a secondary school in a rural area
For this purpose, initial talks were already held with the responsible prefect and the mayor during Dr. Werner Höfner’s project visit in May 2022. A suitable plot of land for the school building has already been promised. However, the prevailing shortage of teachers makes project implementation difficult.
Teacher shortage is very high in the Central African Republic
Qualified teachers are urgently needed to operate the secondary school. Needs are met for the existing elementary schools. Cap Anamur also regularly trains teachers so that they can work in the elementary schools.
However, there are hardly any appropriately trained personnel for higher schools. Therefore, to successfully implement the project, the teacher shortage would first need to be addressed. The state would have to provide these teachers and also pay them reliably. This requires further discussions, especially with the responsible ministry. Because without teaching staff, a successful school project cannot be realized.