The young girl in the Donga Mantung V section of the CPDM will hence enjoy the same rights to education as her male counterpart.
This call was made by Martha Jikwen WCPDM section president recently in Mbem and Nwa during a meeting to discourage parents from sending girls to marriages at an unripe age. The subdivision with the crisis been experiencing a phenomenon whereby parents prefer to send their boy children to schools than the girls. As remarked by the WCPDM president, parents would rather push these girls into marriages at a very young age and this we must discourage. Martha Jikwen said that the meeting she organised was triggered by the noticeable growth in the number of under aged married girls in Nwa. “It is a canker warm that is gradually eating in to the fabric of our sub division which if not dealt with now, the values of the girl child will be given away completely. the aching problem of prostitution among young girls due to the crisis was bad enough already but a more complex situation is showing it’ s ugly head under the guise of marriage where children are pushed into marriages with the complicity of parents who think that by pushing these little girls into marriages will free them form their responsibilities”, she said.
The WCPDM has started a campaign to re-educate parents and the children especially the girls on the need to preserve their families and give every child the opportunity to get education. Nwa subdivision is situated on the Cameroon –Nigeria boarder and according to Martha Jinken, “the children in the subdivision are very vulnerable given their geographical location” she emphasized. She cautioned parents to be uncompromising and to ensure that no matter how tough things get, their children should not be sacrificed, and the girl child should not be disadvantaged.
The meeting of Mbem and Nwa was the first and the WCPDM president plans to take this message to all the subsections. She took advantage of the Mbem and Nwa meeting to visit some sick persons and offer them support as well as a few gifts to some families to support their girls go to school. In her words, “Had the national president of the CPDM Paul Biya not open our eyes to the need to give very one the opportunity to be educated Cameroon would not be counting the thousands of women in top positions in the country”, she lamented. Women continue to be the back born of the society and the education of the girl child must be a priority.
Irene AWENEG
