Great Artistes, UNESCO Prize As Dividends - To Flaunt

The grand finale of the school arts completion – the seventh after inception – held in Yaounde on Wednesday April 30, 2025. The handover of prizes in the National Museum, Yaounde, marked the conclusion of the arts festival organized by “Concertation des Encadreurs du Réseau des Formateurs en Arts et Culture du Centre,” CERPESAC. The network of school arts and culture trainers in the Centre Region. Under the patronage of the Centre Regional Delegation for Secondary Education and the Ministry of Secondary Education.

Greater Participation, Better Prizes
With the jury headed by Leboum Andre Timothe, there were 32 individual prizes, prizes for all participating schools, collective prizes and prizes from the Organizing Committee – giving a total of 72 prizes given out. 
This is the highest number and most prestigious prizes the competition has ever had since it began. Once more, we are so grateful to our sponsors,” acknowledged Mrs. Avouzoa Justine Christine, CERPESAC Chair and National Pedagogic Inspector for Arts.

Festival Impact 
“The impact of the contest is the opportunity it has given students to appreciate the different arts on the curricula. And to give participants visibility as budding arts practitioners. 
For example, the artiste, Cysoul, participated and won in the first Fair Arts in School in 2015 when he was student in Government High School, Ngoa-Ekelle, Yaounde. Others have since become promising cinema actors, self-employed fine arts practitioners…” Mrs. Avouzoa underscored. 

UNESCO Recognition
"Moreover, through Fair Arts in School, I won a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO prize in France. The National UNESCO Commission has always supported the competition. Through this, UNESCO made me a Global Consultant in Artistic and Cultural Arts. 
I have since attended meetings in Benin Republic and France where I defended the cause of artistic and cultural arts. All this shows that people are paying a keen attention to what we do,” she says. 

Plea To Ministry 
“Our hope is that the Ministry of Secondary Education will one day make Fair Arts in School a national competition like school games. For now, it is the only arts festival in the country for secondary and high school students. 
We are so grateful to the Ministry of Arts and Culture for collaborating with the Ministry of Secondary Education to make the competition a huge success. We are gradually moving towards a competition that will eventually go national,” Avouzoa predicted.    

Winning Film 
Initially, there were 30 schools in competition from three divisions in the Centre Region – Mfoundi, Mefou and Afamba and Mefou and Akono. And only 10 got to the final. The winners in the cinema category were a set of male twins from Government Bilingual Secondary School, GBSS Akougou near Soa in Mefou and Afamba Division. 
They did a film on Artificial Intelligence and witchcraft, and how the former can contribute to sustainable development. “Cinema is now part of the curriculum. Reason we opted for Troisieme (Form 4) students to compete – in case they decide to do the series in high school,” Mrs. Avouzoa went on. 

What Is New?  
The other novelty this year was the inclusion under arts handicraft of the production of arts objects from old ...