The Center for Education and Social Promotion (CEPS) of Houndé organized on Saturday June 1, 2024 the closing of its activities marking the exit of the 26th class of the center composed of 35 seamstresses in sewing.
The Houndé Center for Education and Social Promotion (CEPS) provided training for 113 learners including 41 in the 1st year, 37 in the 2nd year and 35 in the 3rd year during the 2023-2024 school year.
To end its activities in style, it organized, on Saturday June 1, 2024, a closing ceremony marking the exit of the 26th promotion from the center.
This ceremony was punctuated by performances by artists, a sketch dealing with the abandonment of child marriages and a fashion show highlighting the skills of the learners in cutting and tailoring. On the occasion, the 35 residents of the 3rd year each received their certificate of end of training.
According to the head of the CEPS department in Houndé Zakaria Ouédraogo, the center achieved a 95% success rate for this school year.
He praised the comm
itment and dedication of the staff, the provincial director in charge of humanitarian action as well as local partners whose financial and material support made it possible to strengthen the institutional capacities of the center.
The center manager also congratulated the learners for the satisfactory results while encouraging the residents at the end of their training to remain in the same dynamic in order to be models of success for future generations.
However, the tree should not hide the forest, according to Mr. Ouedraogo, because the results reached by CEPS hide several difficulties.
Among these, he cited the absence of subsidies for the operation of the center, the insufficiency and defective condition of sewing machines, the absence of working materials, the absence of support for girls at the end of training, the absence of electricity and running water at the center and the lack of partners at the local level.
For the survival of the CEPS of Houndé, Zakaria Ouédraogo launched a cry from the heart
to the competent authorities and to structures or people of good will.
The godmother of the 26th promotion, Marceline Tiaho, also a former CEPS resident, was delighted with the choice made on her person.
According to her, training in cutting and sewing will allow girls to build a professional life. Ms. Tiaho also provided advice to her goddaughters with a view to their socio-professional development.
The delegate of the 26th promotion of the center, Julie Nacoulma, expressed the pride of the promotion in embracing the world of work and promised to do everything possible to contribute to the development of Burkina through sewing.
According to the provincial director in charge of Humanitarian Action in Tuy, Brama Traoré, for more than 26 years the Ministry in charge of Humanitarian Action has worked tirelessly, through this center, to offer a second chance to young girls who have dropped out of school or out of school in Houndé.
In the Tuy province, he suggested, several dozen young girls went through the
education and social promotion centers of Houndé, Béréba and Founzan.
‘Through the cutting and sewing training, it is an opportunity for us to show them that despite the difficulties of daily life, we can always have a way out,’ explained Mr. Traoré.
The provincial director in charge of Humanitarian Action in Tuy congratulated the outgoing promotion before providing advice in turn.
‘The profession of fashion designer is open and at the same time very competitive. Therefore, you must demonstrate creativity, discipline, punctuality, rigor, integrity and above all humility which are fundamental values of the couturier profession to cultivate in your everyday life,’ indicated Mr. Traore.
As a reminder, it was in October 1996 that the CEPS of Houndé opened its doors with training in cutting and sewing. The target population is made up of disadvantaged young girls aged 13 to 35, particularly unmarried mothers, girls who are victims of forced or early marriage, girls who have dropped out of school or are not in
school.
Source: Burkina Information Agency