The government agency responsible for oversight of the activities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in the Central African Republic has concluded that a comprehensive census of Batwa (also known as ‘Pygmies’) will be necessary before programs designed to integrate them into mainstream society are initiated. At a conference in the capital of Bangui, government representatives, anthropologists and members of NGOs from several other central African countries discussed the need for education programs that take into account the seasonal hunting and fishing activities of the Batwa, and agreed that attempts to impose external ways of learning on them were ill-advised and unproductive. No Batwa attended the meeting.
