A/HRC/25/56/Add.1 certificates in 2010 and 2011. The Civil Registration Act of 6 May 2011 extended the deadline for birth registration from 30 to 90 days. 24. In 2013, President Biya announced the issuing of free national identity cards as part of an effort to address the ongoing problem. In its national report submitted for the second cycle of the universal periodic review,12 the Government highlighted that, in 2011, following a census carried out in eight regions, official documents were issued to members of the Pygmy and Mbororo communities: 6,600 national identity cards, and 4,253 declaratory judgements serving as birth certificates, including 1,500 for children (a birth certificate remains a requirement for the issuance of an identity card). Civil society groups pointed out that, despite the instructions from the President that identity cards be free, local officials often demand bribes and other fees that effectively defeat the purpose of the policy. D. Access to education and health care 25. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund,13 Cameroon has a net primary school enrolment rate of around 84 per cent, making it one of the highest in western and central Africa. Civil society representatives, however, frequently cited education issues as among their primary concerns relating to some minority communities. While education is free at the primary level, certain minority communities face challenges that hamper their access to education and have a negative impact on education outcomes and literacy levels. Problems are particularly acute for communities living in remote or forest localities, and also arise in the provision of appropriate education for nomadic communities, issues relating to language for communities whose mother tongue is not used in schools (public education is conducted in French and English only, putting some children at a disadvantage) and extreme poverty. 26. Additional problems exist within communities, including a negative perception of the value of education among traditional hunter-gatherer or pastoralist peoples. The situation of minority and indigenous girls is a special cause for concern. Established gender roles, early marriage and childbirth, the priority given to boys and other cultural factors contribute to lower participation rates in education and higher drop-out rates for girls.14 While these challenges affect many communities, they are particularly grave for certain minority and indigenous groups. The Government is striving to address such concerns, including by means of sensitization campaigns aimed at parents and the creation of “girlchild friendly” primary schools. 27. The Government stated that everyone has the right to equal access to education in Cameroon, in accordance with article 7 of Act No. 98/04 of 14 April 1998 on education guidelines in Cameroon. It noted that, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and local and international non-governmental organizations, it had strengthened measures to improve the access of vulnerable groups, in particular Pygmies and the Mbororo, to education. Such measures include scholarships, certificate-based admission to training schools, the provision of school kits, teacher training, the building of schools closer to villages, the construction or rehabilitation of classrooms, mobile schools for nomadic 12 13 14 A/HRC/WG.6/16/CMR/1, para. 73. See UNICEF, Progress for Children: Achieving the MDGs with Equity, No. 9, September 2010. Available from www.unicef.org/protection/Progress_for_Children-No.9_EN_081710.pdf. According to data collected in 2011 by the Cameroon Indigenous Women Forum, the rate of illiteracy among Mbororo Fulani pastoralist women is around 98 per cent. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/IFP/Aeisatu_Bouba_December_2012.pdf. 9