GROWTH IN CHAD STEMs FROM EDUCATION
To invest in education is to invest in future generations, helping them to strengthen their communities in countless different ways. In 2022, the OPEC Fund provided US$11 million to the education sector in partner countries worldwide.
The development of Chad’s education sector holds great promise for a country facing myriad challenges. Funding education — particularly Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) — reaps many benefits, from inspiring in- novation and industry to improving healthcare to reducing poverty and inequal- ities. A landlocked country in central Africa, Chad is second to last of 191 nations in the UNDP’s Human Development Index. Education remains the central focus for improvement: Student enrollment has risen across all relevant age groups, increasing from just seven higher education institutions in 2000 (with fewer than 7,000 students) to 140 in 2020 (serving around 65,000 students). Yet with half the population under the age of 15, more investments are needed year-on-year. One success story can be found in the southeast of the country, close to the border with Sudan: The Abéché National Institute of Science and Technology (INSTA), established in 1997 in the Ouaddaï region of 750,000 people, has since become a standard-bearer for government efforts in the higher education and scientific research sectors. Co-financed by the OPEC Fund, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa and Chad, Phase 2 of the INSTA Expansion Project is helping to achieve the national education strategy, which aims to increase enrollment, provide more practical and technical training, match skills with jobs and upgrade facilities. The OPEC Fund’s US$11 million loan, part of a US$23.5 million total cost, is set to boost the number of biomedical graduate technicians by 50 percent, up from 400 in 2015 to 600 by 2026. The project includes the construction of a biomedical department, six student dormitories, a canteen, technical buildings, outdoor recreational areas and a 1 MW solar power plant. Some 1,300 students and 100 faculty members are set to benefit from these improvements.
The financing of the OPEC Fund through the extension project of the National Higher Institute of Sciences and Techniques of Abéché is a very commendable initiative. The ministry sees in this project a breath of fresh air, which supports the activities of the government through the higher education and research sub-sector.
TOM ERDIMI Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Chad
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