If there’s any such thing as a window to the world, then it should be the Internet. To look through this window we need power, and that power is electricity. In a world where a child in one city can log in for an online lesson while a neighbour in another village sits in darkness, the promise of education is being fractured by two invisible yet foundational barriers: no electricity, no internet. For millions of children in under-resources countries, especially in rural parts of Cameroon, Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, the lack of a lightbulb or a broadband connection does not look like a luxury, but like a systemic exclusion. Whereas we often think of clean water, shelter, schooling as basic rights, the 21^st century reality is that electricity and internet connectivity are the infrastructure of opportunity. Without them, children are not simply disadvantaged – they are left out. Recognizing both access to electricity and internet as fundamental human rights for children is not a radical idea – it is an argent moral and developmental imperative.

Below is a table of internet penetration rate and electricity access rate in the CEMAC zone.

Country	Internet Penetration Rate	Year (Internet)	Source	Electricity Access Rate	Year (Electricity)	Source
Gabon	71.9%	2025	DataReportal	94.1%	2023	World Bank Open Data
Cameroon	41.9%	2025	DataReportal	72.0%	2023	World Bank Open Data
Congo (Rep. of the)	38.4%	2025	DataReportal	51.3%	2023	World Bank Open Data
Equatorial Guinea	32.5%	2025	DataReportal	74.0%	2023	World Bank Open Data
Central African Republic	15.5%	2025	DataReportal	17.6%	2023	World Bank Open Data
Chad	13.2%	2025	DataReportal	12.0%	2023	World Bank Open Data

Why should Access to Electricity be a Fundamental Human Right in the 21^st Century

There are many reasons why access to electricity and internet should be considered fundamental human rights. These arguments can be classified under three broad categories:

1. the moral and human rights argument
2. socio-economic and educational impacts
3. governance, global development and strategic alignment

Let’s go through these arguments one at a time.

1. The Moral and Human Rights Arguments
2. Extending existing rights

In its Article 28, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) clearly states that “States Parties recognize the right of the child to education, … with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity.” The World Bank citing UNESCO Institute for Statistics provided the 2022 gross enrolment ratio for primary education in Cameroon as 106.66%. According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) via CEIC Data, the primary school completion rate for the same year in Cameroon was at 71%. Though there’s still a lot of work to be done, it is safe to admit that Cameroon has so far done a great job.

However, we cannot pretend that the right to education is fully realized when children cannot login to the world of knowledge or turn on a light after school, which unfortunately remains the case in Cameroon. As seen in the table above, the situation is even worse in countries like Chad and Central Africa Republic.

According to DataReportal, there were 12.4 million internet users in Cameroon in January 2025, which represents 41.9% of the country, and with significant urban/rural and regional disparities. This implies that children in remote areas do not have the same right to education and development when compared to their counterparts in urban areas.

• Equality and non-discrimination

A new layer of inequality of created, whether knowingly or unknowingly, when urban children access e-learning by day and night while those in rural villages depend on candle-light or kerosene lamps. I remember using the moonlight to read for a test while living with my aunt in the village. That was years ago. Today, Sho, which is the village, still doesn’t have electricity.

This digital divide eventually results in an educational divide. A 2025 icrp.org.uk article titled The Impact of School Infrastructure on Academic Performance in Cameroon: Empirical Evidence from Cameroon demonstrates that children living in homes with no electricity generally perform worse on academic measures.

• Moral Imperative

Knowledge, information and connection are modern gateways to voice, participation and agency. Denying children electricity or digital access means denying them the tools to engage, thereby cutting them off from the global village they’re supposed to be a part of.

• Socio-Economic and Educational Impact
• Educational and Learning Outcomes

When schools or households have no electricity, night-study is impossible; computers, projectors, tablets often remain unusable. Citing Godinet 2007 in a 2024 article titled How to Improve Access to educational Technology in Rural Areas on camepi.org, the CEPI research team states that “Many Cameroonian schools lack reliable access to electricity and the Internet, which can limit opportunities to fully integrate ICT into teaching.”

Having understood this challenge, UNICEF Cameroon and the Ministry of Basic Education, in the presence of development partners and the private sector, launched an initiative dubbed “Connect My School” in 12 April 2025 at a Government school in Melen to use solar-powered “e-containers” (digital hubs) in 17 schools in urban, semi-urban and rural areas, giving children and teachers tablet-based resources, powered by solar energy, to overcome local electricity/internet defects.

• Economic Empowerment and Future Skills

It goes without saying that a child without internet access is starting life behind in a world where digital literacy is a core employability skill. The youth boom in Central Africa requires equal readiness for tomorrow’s economy. In Cameroon, for instance, the project to improve internet and connectivity in schools is clearly aimed at boosting youth employability and reducing the rural/urban gaps.

• Gender and Rural Equity

It is also important to know who are affected the most. Girls, children in conflict zone areas as well as those with disabilities are at greater risk of being left behind when infrastructure is weak. The reason is simple – in today’s world, access to internet means mentoring, networks and safe learning. In rural Cameroon, for example, instead of travelling long unsafe distances to learn, girls and children in conflict-affected areas can use digital resources to learn and access opportunities worldwide while staying safe..

• Governance, Global Development and Strategic Alignment
• Alignment with SDGs

Access to internet links to SDG 9 and SDG 4 which are industry, innovation and infrastructure and Quality Education respectively, while access to electricity links to SDG 7 which is affordable and clean energy. A rights-based recognition of connectivity accelerates SDG progress.

• Global Precedent

Countries like Estonia and Finland are clear examples of countries walking this talk as they already recognize internet access as a human right. The United Nations Human Rights Council’s resolution 20/8 (2012) recognized that “disconnecting … internet access” is a rights issue. Extending that to children’s learning and linking electricity makes the argument logical and timely.

• Development Multiplier

In addition to facilitating education, electricity and internet also benefit the health sector, governance, climate resilience and jobs. Policy Brief in its 04 2024 issue opines that rural electrification in Cameroon affect multiple sectors.

The Challenges

The Ministry of Secondary Education (MINISEC) in Cameroon under Dr Nalova Lyonga has done a great job setting up an online education program to modernize the education system in Cameroon. Its YouTube channel known as Enseignement à Distance MINISEC (MINSEC Distance Learning) already has thousands of lessons taught by teachers from all over the country. However, without internet and/or electricity access, this platform isn’t very useful as only students with internet and electricity access can benefit from this.

In many parts of Cameroon’s rural zones, grid electricity is either absent or unreliable. Fondation Beolia, for example, in a study reports that 70% of rural population in Cameroon lack access to electricity supply.

Internet infrastructure is patchy. Rural zones are often uncovered by mobile broadband, backhaul is weak, networks expensive or non-existent.

From a policy, governance and institutional coordination perspective, separate ministries for energy, ICT, education may not coordinate. Governance deficits and policy delays hamper progress.

Affordability and inclusion. The cost of internet in Cameroon remains high. Hence, even when electricity or internet is available, costs may be beyond what families or schools can afford.

Gender/social barriers may mean girls or children with disabilities are further excluded.

Quality, sustainability and relevance. Having electricity or internet connection alone will still not be enough if teachers are not trained, content not relevant or the equipment break down. Cameroon schools still struggle to integrate ICT because teachers are under-trained and infrastructure is weak.

What Can be Done?

Policy and Legal Recognition. Governments should formally recognize access to electricity and internet as part of the right to education for children – enshrined in national policy or constitutions.

Public-Private Partnerships and Innovation. Deploy solar micro-grids or off-grid solutions to power rural schools, homes and hubs. Solar kit households in northern Cameroon.

Partner with telecoms, NGOs, community groups to build “community networks” (as in Cameroon) where traditional operators do not serve.

Community-Driven Models. Use community-owned WiFi/mess networks to lower cost and ensure sustainable local operation.

Train local youth as technicians/maintenance agents so infrastructure is locally managed and resilient

Education Sector Linkage. In schools, integrate electricity and connectivity with teacher training, digital content, local languages and inclusive pedagogy.

Use hybrid models (offline + online) where internet is intermittent, as in Cameroon’s radio-education programme during COVID-19.

International advocacy and financing. Development partners and multilateral banks should earmark funds for “last-mile” electricity plus internet for schools and children in remote areas.

The government, civil society and private sector should work in a synergy to elevate the idea that these services are rights, not simply infrastructure.

If a child cannot flick on a light and cannot open a browser, that child is not just under-equipped, they are structurally excluded from the possibilities of the 21^st century. In an under-resourced country like Cameroon, the divide between the connected and the disconnected is emerging as the greatest barrier to equity, growth and hope. Access to electricity and internet is no longer a luxury or optional add-on – it is fundamental to the fulfilment of a child’s right to learn, grow, participate and thrive. Recognizing them as human rights for children would shift them from optional investments to duties that governments, international partners and society must uphold, thereby positioning them in the heart of policies. The children of today cannot wait for the future of infrastructure to ‘catch up’. Their future depends on governments and societies doing the right thing now. To ensure that no child is left behind, we must light up their rooms, connect their classrooms and connect them to the world.

Tubuo