CAMEROON

Mathematics teacher training programme launched
Cameroon’s ministries of secondary and higher education and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences launched a Mathematics Teacher Training Programme in January. The pilot initiative will train some 3,000 maths teachers through three higher education institutions.The programme is in partnership with the Canada-based MasterCard Foundation, CAMTEL – a national telecommunications and internet service provider in Cameroon – and Google.
The partners signed a memorandum of understanding for a five-year pilot programme on 20 January.
The launch follows an announcement in Cape Town in June 2015 by Professor Phillip Clay, a member of the board of directors of the MasterCard Foundation, of a US$25 million fund for 500 academically gifted but financially disadvantaged students to undertake masters in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics field and teacher training in Cameroon.
Thierry Zomahoun, president and CEO of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences or AIMS, said the Mathematics Teacher Training Programme extends the AIMS contribution to building the pipeline for the scientific, technological and social development of Cameroon.
The initiative has a “train the trainer approach” that will enable about 50 lecturers in three high teacher training colleges to train more than 3,000 maths teachers who are responsible for teaching more than 1.7 million secondary school students across Cameroon, said a statement on the programme’s launch.