Operation No Child Labour in the Mine: The Fifth Edition in Immersion

True to its commitment since 2021, the awareness and schooling caravan conducted for the past five years by the National Mining Corporation (SONAMINES) was once again rolled out in schools in the East Region. The 2025 edition, marked by a permanent presence in the field since the beginning of the year, replaced its usual September format with a community outreach campaign. The aim was to immerse ourselves in the schools benefiting from the “Operation”, so as to touch the realities of the ground through various activities and awareness-raising sessions along with donations.

To implement its new strategy, the Operation No Child Labour in the Mine project team set out to visit several schools and meet with all the heads of the 43 recipient schools. Be it in Kette, Colomine, Garoua Boulai, Betaré Oya, Batouri or Ndelele, SONAMINES’ team offered a great moment of entertainment to the pupils, who enjoyed it to the fullest, with the support of the teaching staff, who contributed greatly through demonstrations to hammer home the need to prioritise education in these mining areas. Kette, de Colomine, de Garoua Boulai, de Betaré Oya, de Batouri et de Ndelele, l’équipe de la SONAMINES a offert un grand moment d’animation aux élèves qui n’ont pas boudé ce plaisir, avec l’appui du corps enseignant, qui y a grandement contribué à travers des cours démonstratifs, pour marteler la nécessité de prioriser le chemin de l’ecole dans ces zones d’exploitation minière.

Particular emphasis was laid on visiting Parent Teacher Training Schools and Pre-school Centres in these different localities.

Along with these activities, intensive awareness-raising efforts were made among the teaching staff, particularly school principals, who took the opportunity to commend SONAMINES' approach, which has borne fruit over the years, with a drastic reduction in school dropout rates.

Cette campagne de proximité a servi de prétexte au suivi et à l’évaluation des dons dans les écoles bénéficiaires des dernières éditions ; l’objectif ici étant de mesurer l’impact de cette activité et surtout, recueillir les besoins pour une meilleure réorientation de sa stratégie qui se veut dynamique.

This outreach campaign served as an opportunity to monitor and assess donations to schools that benefited from previous editions. The aim here was to gauge the impact of this activity and, above all, identify the needs in order to better redirect its dynamic strategy. In prospect, SONAMINES intends to organise awareness-raising and entertainment days in schools during the Youth Week, with educational and competitive fairs for children in schools that are adjacent to mining sites. In addition, health campaigns focusing mainly on STI screening for women and training them in alternative income-generating activities, with a view to reducing their dependence on mining activities, are planned for March.

THE EDITION'S BONUS

Awareness-raising Tailored to Children and with Children

The production of posters with comic strip texts and characters was this edition’s innovation. Designed to help children better understand the dangers of working in mines and the importance of education, in a language that is most familiar to them, these posters provided the backdrop for key messages in educating this mass.

L’impact a été immédiat et les enfants se sont prêtés au jeu d’interprétation des différents messages et d’affichage desdites affiches à cœur joie, au sein des établissements scolaires visités. The impact was immediate, and the children enthusiastically took part in interpreting the various messages and displaying the posters in the schools visited. This has now made them ambassadors to their peers, conveying the message about school benefits. Thanks to its visual and narrative format, the teaching staff equally committed themselves to pass the message on throughout the school year in order to preserve and maintain the pupils' commitment..