Equatorial Guinea

by Paul Bacsich, updated by Graham Clarke

For entities in Equatorial Guinea see Category:Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea in a nutshell

Source : http://www.cia.gov

Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (Spanish: República de Guinea Ecuatorial; French: République de Guinée Équatoriale; Portuguese: República da Guiné Equatorial) is a country located in Central Africa.

With an area of 28,000 km2 it is one of the smallest countries in continental Africa, having a population estimated at 0.5 million.

It comprises two parts:

1. a Continental Region (Río Muni), including several small offshore islands like Corisco, Elobey Grande and Elobey Chico;
2. an Insular Region containing Annobón island and Bioko island (formerly Fernando Po) where the capital Malabo is situated.

Annobón is the southernmost island of Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the east is the mainland region.

Equatorial Guinea is bordered by Cameroon on the north, Gabon on the south and east, and the Gulf of Guinea on the west, where the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe is located between Bioko and Annobón. Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name is suggestive of its location near both the equator and the Gulf of Guinea. It is one of the few territories in mainland Africa where Spanish is an official language, besides the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

Equatorial Guinea is the third smallest country in continental Africa in terms of population. It is also the second smallest United Nations (UN) member from continental Africa.

The discovery of sizeable petroleum reserves in recent years is altering the economic and political status of the country. As of 2008, and as an example of the 'natural resource curse', gross domestic product (GDP) per capita-boosted by oil exports-ranks 31st, though wealth with is actually in the hands of few people, leading the Human Development Index (HDI) to rank 115th worldwide.

School-level education

Pre-primary for children under six years, is divided into two parts: nursery school and kindergarten. Pre-school education consists of games, creative activities, etc. Primary level consists of five years of study at two levels. The first level is for children aged six to 10, and the second for children aged 10 to 12. Secondary level is devoted to preparing for the baccalaureate and to professional training. The baccalaureate is obtained after two cycles of four and three years of study.

ICT in education initiatives

The education system is organised into cycles and degrees. The levels of education are preschool, primary, secondary, and higher education. The degrees are the baccalaureate and advanced degrees in higher education. The institutional structure of the school system is as follows:

The advanced cycle (post-secondary) exists at three levels: the first is three years; the second, devoted to specialised study, is two years; and the third is three years, devoted to research.

There is little in the way of advanced e-learning.

For more details see the infoDev report (2007) at http://www.infodev.org/en/Publication.400.html

This would form the basis of a good Country Report.

References

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