By KforC Board Chairman
Maimo Jacob Shiynyuy

The Board of Directors for Knowledge for Children (KforC) Cameroon has been receiving so many applications and delegations from Village Development Associations and Primary Schools in the region around our home town Kumbo (Bui, Donga-Mantung and Ngoketunjia Divisions) in the North West Region of Cameroon. The applications and requests are all bearing the same appeal: “PLEASE INCLUDE OUR PRIMARY SCHOOL IN YOUR SCHOOL BOOK PROJECT”. So many people, schools and rural communities have heard about our activities and want to be part of the schoolbook program desperately. This is a very nice compliment to all who are working for and with Kforc and giving donating finances to make all this work possible.

The activities of KforC in the benefiting schools are yielding the expected dividends. In the End-of-Course examinations for instance, statistics show that benefiting schools perform much better than other schools. More and more people are talking about the improvements KforC is bringing to the teaching and learning process in schools through their schoolbook program. The number of benefiting schools and books supplied has steadily increased since 2005 when KforC was created as shown in this table;

The quality of the program is maintained and sustainability ensured by three focus points in the Schoolbook program; the Bookplan, the Bookstandard and the Bookfund. The pupils, teachers, Parent Teacher Associations, the Elite, and the traditional rulers of the benefiting communities as well as the Mayors, Educational and Civil Administrators continue to express profound gratitude to the BOD KforC Holland and all donors particularly IMPULSIS for their understanding and cooperation with KforC Cameroon to assure a better life for primary school children in the North West Region of Cameroon.

Besides financial support from Holland, one of the goals of KforC Cameroon, Knowledge Exchange, has been wonderfully promoted by one of the BOD members of KforC Holland (Jerica Van Niekerk), who volunteered to come and work with us for one year as Adviser. Jerica Van Niekerk, a dynamic, friendly and Knowledgeable Educational Scientist has facilitated the capacity building for our BOD, Zonal Coordinators, Headteachers and Teachers, PTA Executives, Recruitment and Guidance of the Program Manager and started the ongoing survey on HIV/Aids and Malaria for children of 9-13 years.

The immediate and distant future of Knowledge for Children is promising given that there are very committed Board Members in Holland and Cameroon who voluntarily have decided to work hard and bring effective change in the teaching and learning process in rural primary schools in North West Region of Cameroon. Our definite plan for the future is to look for more international and cameroonian donors, increase the benefiting schools to 100 by 2011, carry out activities in rural communities to prevent HIV/Aids and Malaria and recruit a second staff (program officer) for our office in Kumbo.