NGO helps to educate 737 pygmy children in Lekoumou

The US-based NGO International Partnership for Human Development (IPHD) is helping ensure that 737 indigenous (or "pygmy") children remain in school in Sibiti District, in the Lekoumou Department of southwestern Republic of Congo, Paul Mouanga, an IPHD representative, told IRIN on Thursday. "To help motivate them, the children received school supplies, uniforms and laundry soap," Mouanga said in the nation's capital, Brazzaville. "We also help to ensure they receive medical attention on a regular basis. And so that they do not abandon classes during the harvest or hunting seasons, canteens have been installed so they can eat at school." The project, which is run in collaboration with the Ethnic Minority Pygmy Association (l'Association Minorite Ethnique Pygmee), targets 14 schools at present. Mouanga said evaluation of the programme indicated that increasing numbers of pygmy children were attending classes, and that relations between them and majority ethnic Bantu children had improved. "We had to allow additional enrolment because of the willingness of the children to attend school," he said. "Originally, the project had targeted 500 children, but we're now at 737." In a February 2004 report, a national NGO, the Congolese Observatory for Human Rights (L'Observatoire congolais des droits de l'Homme - Ocdh) said that the education of pygmy children had been compromised both by traditional practices and State neglect. [See "NGO denounces widespread violation of pygmy rights"] Historically, pygmy parents have preferred that their children forego school in order to help the family with hunting and fishing for their survival. Likewise, they have wanted their children to learn traditional ways of life in the forest. Adding to these considerations are the financial constraints linked to payment of school fees. IPHD hopes to launch a similar education project for pygmies in northern areas of the country, particularly in the departments of Sangha and Likouala. It also plans to organise, from 29 March through 3 April in Zanaga, Lekoumou Department, a conference to promote the socio-economic integration of pygmies. "The objective of this meeting is to contribute to the mobilisation of material and human resources in order to help pygmies be integrated into society," Mouanga said. "Above all, we hope to draw the attention of public authorities to the need to give this important matter greater attention."