Mostly in rural areas, the indirect cost of education is still referred to by families as “lost income”. Although difficult to estimate, it often makes parents reluctant to enroll their children in school. Rather than opt for schooling, parents prefer to send their children to work to boost the family income. In the long term, desertion of schools will lead to an illiterate, frustrated, ill-equipped and poorly exploited population, inevitably reinforcing the fragility of Cameroon, and of Africa in general. To remedy this situation, we have put in place a sustainable solution.

To break the vicious circle (under-schooling-analphabetism-unemployment-precariousness-rural exodus-frustration-urban scourges) into which rural communities are plunged, the Pierre Thierry Noah Foundation is setting up a special schooling program for rural children with high academic potential. The social environment from which they come should no longer be an obstacle to their personal fulfillment. On the contrary, it makes sense to equip them to improve their home environment, without alienating it; schooling reinforced by training, empowerment and autonomy.