Abongdoh Maluyane Titus
In Cameroon's Northwest and Southwest regions, families have been displaced by conflict and insecurity.
But where displacement hits, formal education systems have collapsed, and learners are left without a way to keep studying.
STEMBridge for Youth, e-Mentor's flagship programme, goes where learners are rather than waiting for infrastructure to catch up.
It brings offline, solar-powered STEM education to internally displaced and refugee learners, using virtual reality technology that needs no internet and no grid electricity. Learning happens in a 12-week cohort model. Community facilitators and teachers are trained to run the programme themselves, so it keeps going without constant oversight from the core team.
Since 2021, STEMBridge has reached over 2,000 young people, with more than 1,500 engaged directly and over 170 facilitators and teachers trained. Participating learners have recorded an average 21 percent improvement in STEM performance, with a completion rate above 85 percent. One learner, Cheochetah Killian, displaced from Bamenda, improved his STEM scores by over 34 percent and now studies engineering construction at S7 Academy.
We are proud to announce STEMBridge for Youth as one of the finalists of Solve for Change Season 1 Round 2! 🎉
Displacement is a barrier to access, not to potential. Through Solve for Change, the plan is to pilot Edbot.ai-supported English and digital literacy sessions alongside the existing STEM curriculum.