30 km from Yaoundé (capital of Cameroun), in the Méfou-et-Afamba department, Nkolafamba district, Centre region, lies the Catholic mission of Omvan, which extends over 37 hectares. The St Cœur de Marie Catholic elementary school is one of the first in the Archdiocese of Yaoundé and was founded 87 years ago, in 1936, and opened in 1951.
Omvan school has unique features, such as Cultural Fridays, where classes stop mid-day to allow children to express themselves culturally. They have the opportunity to share and learn about local cuisine, translation and the history of the names of the surrounding villages. Village chiefs also frequently come to tell tales and moral riddles, allowing the children to reconnect with their roots.
In addition to classes, Omvan school’s pedagogy involves learning the traditional Ewondo language and doing beneficial manual work, such as growing tubers and cereals. Harvests are sold, and income is shared with students in the form of bonuses or allocated to the school’s development.
The school also boasts a soccer stadium, which has played host to the likes of Roger Milla, one of the first African players to become an international star. The stadium was once used by Catholic missionaries to organize sports matches between neighboring villages. Today, it is a meeting point for pupils and a social, ecclesiastical and cultural heritage site.
Within the grounds administered by the Omvan parish, there is also the Omvan boarding school, which cedes its premises to the nursery school pupils. There are two buildings serving as dormitories, a kitchen, a refectory and a shower room.
The Catholic mission housed the Ad Lucem hospital between the 60s and 90s. Although the hospital was destroyed, the parish built a health center a few years later to care for sick students, teachers, clergy and administrators.
For all its joy, the Omvan school has its share of tribulations.
Although it has 10 classrooms, only 6 are currently in use, accommodating all cycles from SIL – Section d’Initiation au Langage (1st grade equivalent) to cours moyen 2ème année (3rd grade equivalent), with an average of 20 pupils per room. In 2022, 162 pupils were regularly enrolled. However, the school faces a number of challenges, not least the inability of some parents to pay school fees, resulting in 38 of the 200 students enrolled dropping out at the start of the 2021 school year. Added to this is a lack of infrastructure, particularly books that don’t conform to the new national curriculum. Many children live between 3 and 8 km from the school, and are often called upon by their parents in the morning for household and agricultural chores. As a result, they often arrive late and too exhausted to attend classes or do their homework. Most teachers have to leave Yaoundé every morning to travel 30 km to Omvan, which delays lessons. To remedy this situation, the school administration has decided to renovate a dilapidated old building to house the teachers, thus reducing their travel time. This undertaking requires funds that are currently unavailable.
Why is Omvan school so important to Pierre Thierry Noah Foundation?
Omvan school held a special place in the heart of Pierre Thierry Noah, late husband of Patricia Noah, to whom we owe the Pierre Thierry Noah Foundation. He was welcomed there at the age of four, and the school played a major role in forging his identity. Pierre devoted a great deal of energy and resources to renovating the school and improving the students’ living and learning conditions. His dedication to the school and its students testifies to his passion for education and his desire to create a better future for the children of Cameroon.
Pierre Thierry Noah Foundation is keen to continue Pierre’s work. One of our major achievements was the “La Rentrée des Héros” event held at Omvan school in September 2022. This event resulted in the donation of 1,200 books, which will remain the property of the foundation and benefit future students. In addition, the foundation awarded full scholarships to the most courageous students. This effort helped to reduce the school absenteeism rate by 68%.
However, despite this significant progress, much remains to be done to meet the challenges facing the school. Omvan School needs more support to improve the quality of teaching, provide better learning opportunities for its students and a better situation for its teachers.
Your support can have a significant impact, whether through direct sponsorship of a child, donations of school materials or financial aid, the gift of time and skills, or the dissemination of information about the school’s needs. Together, we can make a difference and ensure that Omvan school remains a place where children can learn, grow and flourish.
Learn more about how Pierre Thierry Noah Foundation contributes to education of children in Cameroon. Click Here!
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