BY SIMON NDIVE KALLA
The Minister of Basic Education, Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, on Friday September 22, 2023 signed a convention agreement with Prudential Beneficial Insurance dubbed “Degree Insurance.”
The partnership agreement seeks to confirm the approval of the Ministry of Basic Education for the company to introduce “Degree Insurance” in schools in the country.
Professor Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa said it is not a commercial convention, and the State has nothing to benefit. It is all about giving parents the opportunity to negotiate with the insurance company in a bid to save something for their children for the rainy days amongst other things.
“We have signed the convention so that families can have access to the various products offered by the insurance company,” the Minister of Basic Education noted. Keeping children in school is the priority of the government”,
“Ensuring completion of basic education through university is generally not guaranteed, so having an adequate solution in place will give us the advantage of minimising disruption,” Pr. Etoundi Ngoa explained.
He welcomed the innovative initiative which aims to bring insurance closer to the populations and contribute to the development of Cameroon.
“Degree Insurance” is therefore one of the solutions available to secure the future of children through well tailor school insurance policies.
While noting that school insurance already exists in schools in the country, the Minister of Basic Education revealed that the particularity about Degree Insurance is that it is a long-term project.
The General Manager of Prudential Beneficial Insurance, Brain Nkwenti said they want to be part of the education of kids in Cameroon. “Knowing that life is full of uncertainty, as an insurance company, we will intervene in case something happens to a parent. We want to be partners in helping the country have educated citizens.”We are going to use our expertise to ensure that no child is left behind,” Nkwenti Brain underscored.
He took the opportunity to emphasize the importance of subscribing to an insurance policy, and especially of giving our children a secure future.
Speaking to The SUN the Regional manager for Prudential Beneficial Insurance for the South West Region Dr. Enow Pius Orock said the objective of this partnership is to offer primary school students in Cameroon the possibility of subscribing to Diploma Insurance, which offers them a financial guarantee until they obtain their University Diploma in the event of death, total or partial disability of their parents.
“This innovative product, until now reserved for higher education students, will allow primary school students to continue their studies with complete peace of mind” Dr. Enow Pius said.
He added that the Minister of Basic Education accepted this lovely idea because they are credible insurance company and financially backed up to enhance education.
“Our dream plan is that we want the children to at least accomplish their heart desire of their parents by having a degree because anybody without a degree is a wastage in life” Dr. Enow Pius added.
Excerpts
The SUN: Mr. Enow Orock, you are Regional manager for Prudential beneficial in the South West region. Recently your company signed a partnership with the ministry of basic education, for degree insurance. What is it all about?
It is relevant for us to understand that we are living in a world of uncertainty. And we are living in the world of the unknown. Many parents and sponsors of children today give birth to children. All of them desire that these children must emerge. They must be doctors, engineers or even pilots tomorrow. But because of the world that we are living in, some of these sponsors die before their time. Some parents die living the children in the cold. Prudential Beneficial being an international insurance company found in Europe, Asia, America and Africa where we have about eighteen countries affiliated to us, we decided to come out with a very good, positive product because every child must become literate. Every child must obtain a degree in life. You know that when children go to school and they come out with degrees it is very easy for them to pick up from there and pick up jobs, but less than a degree in a country where we are today it becomes very difficult.
This product has gone all around, so it went into the ears of the government the minister said ok!
How will it start?
Since we are starting from the ministry of basic education where it has younger children and that is why the minister saw that it was a good product and signed a contract with us and because of that he has made other people in the ministries and other workers to understand that they support the mission of Prudential Beneficiary because they are credible.
We fulfill our obligation. Today, we are celebrating 175 years of existence. So you can see that we experience and credibility.
How do you get the parents of the children register to this policy?
We go through the proprietors of the schools. It is not the parents that have to pay this money, because we have so many advantages that we offer to the schools. The proprietors will pay for each child then at the end of the day if it happens that any sponsor drops dead, we are going to be paying fees and giving money to the various proprietors of the various schools that have those predicaments. So, every year that child is sure to be going to school until he or she gets to the university.
How much does it cost?
It is only FCFA 6,000 per child every year for the child to pay. After two years, we will see that we evaluate, we come back to the school that has been receiving these grants from us and have been collecting this money. We go into an investment capacity with the school that we want to invest so that we can leave a legacy in that school.
What do we do? There maybe a lot of challenges in the school, the school may tell you that we need a borehole here or maybe a building or even a bus we will pay in the name and give to the school. But we do all those things behind.
How are you coping in the Southwest with the crisis?
We are are doing well. Despite the crisis we still go around and we make it possible to let people know that we are living in a world of uncertainty, people should think about tomorrow. You have your kids, how will they grow up? What measures have you taken to ensure that your children will be able to fulfill their heart’s desire. Insurance is very important. One thing I want to make people understand is that we are doing well because we are paying the claims. You know that in Cameroon where we are, Cameroonians are ignorant about insurance. We make it possible to let people know that any money you have you can subscribe it for insurance because it is relevant and Prudential Beneficial is the best because we are credible.
We covered the last AFCOAN matches that were held in Yaounde, we were the people who covered them because we are credible. If we are not credible the organisers will not vote to cover the tournament.