An 18-year-old lower sixth science student has invented a learning application for secondary school students.
Mbah Javis is an internally displaced person from Batibo, a locality in Momo Division of the North West Region-Cameroon currently residing in Bamenda, capital city of the Region.
Javis who is had fled their Batibo home together with his parents since 2018 says his invention was partly triggered by the Covid-19 lockdown in Cameroon as students could no longer access onsite studies.
The app named “The Network” (TN) aims at having course work for all secondary school subjects according to Cameroon syllables uploaded in it with possibility of students to network and share ideas on questions in their respective fields.
To him, TN should be able to assist people who have the desire to go to school but cannot do so on the regular school setup to study and acquire certificates.
“I want the app in the nearest future to enable people who haven’t gone to school to have educative material to study online and get certification for themselves without going to the classroom”, Javis told this reporter in a telephone chat.
According to United Nations agencies nearly 600,000 children are out of in NWSW since 2016. This app may thus fit their demands eventually.
Between June and August, the app has registered 1000 downloads on goggle playstore still being hosted on a free plan.
The major challenge Javis says is accessing study material to upload on his app “it is very difficult getting the educative materials. In Cameroon, things are not digital so getting the materials is very very hard” he laments.
Another challenge is getting a hosting plan for his app online which he says is expensive and he cannot afford the money. Having the application on a paid hosting plan Javis says has many advantages which he cannot enjoy now.
Mbah Javis is one out of the 680,000 internally displaced persons, IDPs in Cameroon according to OCHA report of December, 2019 provoked by the protracted armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions of the country in its fourth year. He lives in a single room house with his elder brothers in Bamenda, separated from their parents who live in the same town for want of space.
He comes from a polygamous home with many brothers and sisters; not all of whom have the privilege to attend school like Javis is.
Despite his circumstances, the young innovator is resilient and contributing enormously to the digital development in Cameroon, a catalyst to the country’s development drive.
By Wifa Jennyhans