education in cameroon africa

Advancing the right to education in Cameroon

In order to align the new Sector Strategy for Education and Training (SSET) of Cameroon with the SDG 4- Education 2030 Agenda, the UNESCO Office in Yaoundé, in cooperation with the National Commission of Cameroon for UNESCO, organized from 6-8 June 2018 in Yaoundé, a National Consultation Workshop of stakeholders in education.

The 3-day National Consultation Workshop brought together approximately 200 participants and commenced with an opening ceremony in the presence of Minister of Basic Education, Mrs. Youssouf Hadidja Alim. Participants included representatives of the various technical ministries involved, the parliament, technical and financial partners, representatives of civil society, NGOs, opinion leaders and teachers. A thematic Working Group was specifically devoted to the right to education , to discuss the legal gaps of the current national legislations and regulations inhibiting the full realization of the right to education and the achievement of SDG 4. The Working Group, chaired by Hon. Marlyse Douala Bell, member of the National Assembly and the Education and Youth Commission, provided the unique opportunity for participants to raise key issues that Cameroon faces with regard to achieving an inclusive, equitable and quality education for all. Recommendations were formulated in order to reinforce the institutional and legal framework by identifying the most urgent legal reforms that need to be undertaken.

The Working Group agreed upon key steps of a Roadmap in order to follow-up on the discussions and recommendations made, with the aim to produce a country Report on the right to education to serve as a basis for future legislative reforms.

This initiative in Cameroon falls within a larger scope of reviewing the legal frameworks of the countries of the Central African Region. The Nairobi Declaration and Call for Action on Education created a new momentum within Africa, with countries seeking to align their legal framework with SDG 4 Education 2030 commitments. UNESCO stands ready to provide technical assistance and strengthening of national capacities.

• Right to education

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• Country page: Cameroon

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HerAtlas: Monitoring the right to education for girls and women HerAtlas: Background, rationale and objectives 12 March 2024

HerAtlas: Monitoring the right to education for girls and women HerAtlas: Disclaimer and terms of use 12 March 2024

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Education in Cameroon

• Transforming education

Result story

• Civil society
• KIX support
• Blogs and news

Partner since: 2006

Total grant support: US$172,756,115

Grant eligibility:

• Girls' Education Accelerator
• System capacity
• System transformation

Education sector plan

Other key documents

Coordinating agency: UNICEF

GPE Team lead: Ludovic Signarbieux, Mafaizath Fatoke

Transforming education in Cameroon

The primary objective of the current plan, Document de Stratégie du Secteur de l’Éducation et de la Formation 2013-2020 is the achievement of quality universal primary education in Cameroon. This objective aligns with the national strategy for growth and employment goal of providing the production system with human capital capable of supporting economic growth.

Cameroon has made notable progress in recent years on some indicators, including increasing the textbook/learner ratio, recruiting and deploying new teachers and assessing learning outcomes. However, the education sector still faces many challenges particularly due to the many crises the country has faced in recent years.

The current education sector plan is focused on improving access and equity, quality and relevance, as well as governance and management of the education sector in Cameroon.

Cameroon: Including refugee and internally displaced children in education

• Cameroon has an increasing number of refugees from the Central African Republic and Nigeria as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs) from conflict-affected regions, many of whom are school-age children.
• The government is committed to ensuring equitable access to quality education for all children in communities hosting refugees and IDPs.
• A GPE-funded program is helping improve the quality of education in 300 host-community schools welcoming refugees and 200 host-community schools with internally displaced children.

(data as of April 28, 2024)

Type: System capacity

Years: 2024 - 2026

Allocation: US$401,221

Utilization: 0

Grant agent: WB

Years: 2023 - 2024

Allocation: US$179,091

Utilization: US$133,426

Grant agent: UNESCO

Type: Program development

Allocation: US$200,000

Grant agent: IsDB

Years: 2022 - 2025

Allocation: US$400,000

Utilization: US$361,157

Type: Program implementation and Multiplier

Years: 2021 - 2027

Allocation: US$53,800,000

Utilization: US$11,353,405

Multiplier: Strengthen and further the impact of the parent project and its results, while supporting the government’s efforts to lower the effect of conflict and fragility on the education sector.

• Application (Multiplier)

Civil society engagement

As part of its investment in civil society advocacy and social accountability efforts, GPE’s Education Out Loud fund is supporting the Cameroon Education For All Network (CEFAN) for the 2020-2023 period. This builds on previous support from the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF).

Knowledge and innovation

• Cameroon is part of the KIX Africa 21 regional hub .
• KIX research projects:
• Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Teacher and student education for Primary Schools—STEPS
• Improving Community Teacher Development in the Digital Era
• Observatory on COVID-19 Responses in Educational Systems in Africa

Latest blogs and news

December 03, 2023 Cameroon: Including refugee and internally displaced children in education Read how GPE is helping Cameroon address education challenges faced by refugees, internally displaced populations and host communities due to Boko Haram and Central Africa Republic crises.

October 13, 2023 Roll-out of the GPE funding model in Cameroon, Mauritania and Togo GPE organized a workshop gathering national technical teams in charge of developing partnership compacts in Cameroon, Mauritania and Togo, which all face similar challenges to transform their education...

June 21, 2023 Investing smarter in education with innovative tools – ACG SmartEd Innovative financing approaches are essential to give all children a quality education by 2030. GPE’s ACG SmartEd is one of them. This blog explains how it helps partner countries bridge funding gaps and...

International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa

Cameroon: Education Country Brief

This brief provides data and references to the literature on issues that matter for education in Cameroon. It is part of a series that provides a brief introduction to the state of education systems in Africa. The work was prepared for country pages on IICBA’s website and a digital repository of resources at the country, sub-regional, and continental level. The brief series also informs work conducted in the context of (i) the European Union’s Africa Regional Teachers’ Initiative and (ii) the KIX (Knowledge and Innovation eXchange) Africa 19 Hub for anglophone countries that promotes the use of evidence for policy making and benefits from funding from the Global Partnership for Education and Canada’s International Development Research Center. This brief and its associated webpage are meant to be updated as new information becomes available, at least on a yearly basis. 

Key resources: This brief provides the following resources: 

• Educational outcomes: Estimates are provided for learning poverty (the share of 10-year-old children not able to read and understand a simple text), educational attainment and/or enrollment rates at various levels of education, the components of the human capital index, and human capital wealth as a share of national wealth. 
• Selected literature: Links are provided to selected publications at the global, regional, and country levels with a focus on six themes: (i) learning assessment systems; (ii) early childhood education; (iii) teaching and learning; (iv) the data challenge; (v) gender equality; and (vi) equity and inclusion. 
• Country policies: Links are provided to key institutions (including Ministries) managing the education system, selected policy and planning documents, and websites that aim to provide comparative data on policies across countries.
• Knowledge repositories and other resources: Links are provided to a dozen digital repositories that collate publications and resources on education issues in Africa. 
• Data: Links are provided to data sources that can help inform education policy.

This country brief provides a brief introduction to selected issues and research relevant to Cameroon’s education system and links to resources that may be useful to official of Ministries of Education and other education stakeholders. A special focus is placed on thematic areas from the KIX (Knowledge and Innovation eXchange) initiative for which UNESCO IICBA manages the Secretariat of the Africa KIX 19 Hub. Together with the associated webpages on UNESCO IICBA’s website, the brief is to be updated as new information becomes available, typically every year. The brief starts with a review of basic data on educational outcomes including learning poverty, educational attainment, and the human capital index. The focus then shifts to information related to the thematic areas of focus of the KIX Africa 19 Hub, namely: (i) learning assessment (ii) early childhood education; (iii) teaching & learning (iv) data challenge; (v) gender equality; and (vi) equity and inclusion. The brief also includes links to country documents and processes as well as a range of other resources and websites.

Educational Outcomes and Human Capital

Cameroon as many other African countries is facing a learning crisis. Learning poverty, the share of children not able to read and understand an age-appropriate text by age 10, is estimated by the World Bank, UNESCO, and other organizations at  72 percent (see Table 1 for selected statistics) This is in part because out-of-school children are unlikely to achieve reading proficiency. But it mostly results from the fact that 111 percent of children enrolled in primary school could be learning poor. It is imperative to improve the quality of the education provided in schools.

Schooling does not imply learning, but lack of learning increases the likelihood of dropping out of school. Learning poverty is one of the factors contributing to low educational attainment. According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics ( UIS data ), the primary school completion rate was at 66 percent in 2022 for girls and 73 percent for boys. The lower secondary completion rate is much lower and with 35.6 percent of girls and 35.2 percent of boys. Gross enrollment rates for secondary education indicate a gender gap, with 43 percent of females enrolling compared to 48 percent of males. Low educational attainment especially for girls is due in part tom relatively high levels of child marriage and early childbearing. Gross enrollment in tertiary education was at 13 percent for women in 2018 versus 15 percent for men. 

Another useful statistic is the  Human Capital Index for Cameroon based on six variables: (i) the probability that a child will survive past age five (92 percent); (ii) the years of schooling that a child is expected to complete by age 18 (8.7 years); (iii) the level of learning that a child is expected to acquire (379); (iv) the learning-adjusted years of schooling that a child is expected to complete, a measure combining the two previous measures (5.3 years); (v) the adult survival rate (70 percent of 15-year olds surviving until age 60); and finally (vi) the probability that a child will not be stunted in early childhood (71 percent). Based on those six variables, the expected productivity in adulthood of a child is estimated in comparison to full productivity that could be expected with full education and health. The estimate is that a child born in Cameroon today will reach only 40 percent of his/her potential. This is lower than the average for sub-Saharan Africa region and lower than the average for Lower middle-income countries.

One last statistic may help make the case for the importance of investing in education for the country’s development. A country’s wealth mainly consists of three types of capital: (1) Produced capital comes from investments in assets such as factories, equipment, or infrastructure; (2) Natural capital consists of assets such as agricultural land and both renewable and nonrenewable natural resources; (3) Human capital is measured as the present value of the future earnings of the labor force, which in turn depends on the level of educational attainment of the labor force. The latest estimates from the  World Bank suggest that human capital wealth in Cameroon accounts for 58 percent of national wealth. 

Selected Literature

Supporting countries in using evidence for policymaking is an objective shared by many organizations and initiatives. Under the KIX initiative for which UNESCO IICBA manages the KIX Africa 19 Hub and collaborates with KIX Africa 21, the focus is on six themes: (i) learning assessment systems (ii) early childhood education; (iii) teaching and learning (iv) the data challenge; (v) gender equality; and (vi) equity and inclusion. For each topic, a link is provided to the GPE-KIX Discussion paper written at the start of the initiative in 2019 and additional publications that could be useful for policy. By necessity, to keep this brief short, only a few resources can be mentioned, but additional resources can be accessed through digital repositories listed below. A brief note on UNESCO IICBA research is also provided.

Learning Assessment Systems   [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper] . Learning assessment tools and systems are essential to gauge and improve learning outcomes for students. A  primer on large scale assessments from the World Bank provides guidance on such assessments, as does a review of learning  assessments in Africa from UNESCO IIEP. Among regional assessments,  PASEC (Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems) for francophone countries in West and Central Arica and  SEACMEQ (Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality) for anglophone countries in East and Southern Africa are the best known. These instruments target primary schools. Also interesting is  PISA for development which is being piloted in secondary schools in a few African countries. The Cameroonian education system regularly conducts  certificate evaluations , typically at the end of each educational cycle. These evaluations are national in scope and are organized by the dedicated directorate within  the ministry responsible for the specific educational cycle or by specialized bodies like the Baccalaureate Office and the General Certificate of Education Board. Additionally, Cameroon participates in the  PASEC regional assessment.  

Improving Teaching and Learning   [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper] . How teachers and students interact and engage is key to improve learning outcomes. Cost-effective approaches pr ‘smart buys’ to improve learning in low-income countries are discussed in a  World Bank report . Teaching is paramount, and therefore so are teacher policies to ensure that  successful teachers make for successful students. Standards for the teaching profession were proposed by  Education International and UNESCO with regional standards available from the Africa Union Commission, including a  framework for standards and competencies . To enhance teaching and learning, the Ministry of Education in Cameroon has recently adopted an  ICT Policy and Strategic Framework for Basic Education . This strategic framework likely aims to incorporate information and communication technology into the education system to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

Strengthening Early Childhood Care and Education [ GPE-KIX Discussion Paper ]. Experiences children undergo in early childhood can affect their entire life.  Nurturing care is essential. Essential interventions in early childhood include pre-primary education.  Yet less than half of young children in Africa benefit from pre-primary education according to the  Global Education Monitoring report 2021 .  The Office of Research at UNICEF maintains a  webpage with useful links to organizations working on child-related themes organized by subject, including early childhood. Cameroon has data available on early childhood development through  nurturing care profile . Moreover, a new Early Childhood Development (ECD) program called " Thrive for five " has been launched to empower parents and caregivers with the knowledge they need to support the healthy development of children in the first five years of life. This initiative suggests a commitment to early childhood care and education in Cameroon. 

Achieving Gender Equality In and Through Education [GPE-KIX Discussion Paper] . The  cost of gender inequality is massive, as is the  cost of not educating girls , including in  Africa . When girls lack education, this affects their earnings in adulthood, the number of children they will have and their health, as well as their agency, among others. When girls are not in school, they are also at higher risk of child marriage, with again  high costs for them, their children, and society. In Africa, the African Union’s  International Centre for the Education of Girls and Women in Africa supports member states on girls’ education. In 2013, FAWECAM and VSO Cameroon conducted research examining gender equality in teaching and education management in primary and secondary education in Cameroon. This research focused on policy efforts and challenges related to gender equality in education, indicating an awareness of the importance of addressing gender disparities in the education system

Data Management Systems Strengthening   [GPEKIX Discussion Paper] . Education management information systems (EMIS) are key for management. They can also support evidence-based policymaking. In Africa, the  African Union’s Institute of Education for Development supports member states on EMIS. In addition to EMIS data, other data sources including household surveys, school surveys, student assessments, and impact evaluations of pilot interventions are essential to inform policy. Cameroon has established a Governance and Institutional Support program within  MINEDUB , which includes the creation of a statistical information system known as the School Map. This system collects statistical data from both public and private schools and covers both the formal and non-formal education system in the country. The data collected through this system are used to produce an annual  Statistical Yearbook and a Statistical Data  Analysis Report , providing a valuable source of information for education planning and policy development. Additionally,  MINESEC (the Ministry of Secondary Education) also produces  Statistical Yearbook and Analysis reports , contributing to the strengthening of data management systems

Equity and Inclusion/Leaving No One Behind   [GPEKIX Discussion Paper] . Equity and inclusion are major challenges for education systems. Gender, disability, ethnicity, indigenous status, poverty, displacement, and many other factors may all lead some children to lack access to education. In Africa especially, gaps in educational outcomes between groups may be large, as illustrated in the case of  disability . Equity must be at the center of  education policy on the continent.  UNESCO GEM Report provides a profile of the context of inclusion in Cameroon, highlighting efforts to promote equity in education. With the support of the GPE through the  PAEQUE (Equity and Quality for Improved Learning) program, Cameroon has received support to improve the quality of education and promote equity, with a focus on ensuring that all children have access to quality education. This demonstrates a commitment to inclusive education in the country. Recently The world bank has also launched the  Education Reform Support Project for Cameroon to improve equitable access to quality basic education, with a focus on selected disadvantaged areas.

Note on UNESCO IICBA Research .  IICBA recently launched a new program of applied research on teacher and education issues in Africa. This includes studies, discussion papers, training guides, reports, knowledge briefs, data briefs, event summaries, and interviews. Several of those publications focus on Cameroon. All publications are available on  IICBA’s website .

Country Policies 

Information on Cameroon’s education system and policies is available on the website of the  Ministry of basic education (MINEDUB), the  Ministry of Secondary Education (MINISEC) and the  Ministry of Higher Education (MINISUP) which also cover Technical education and vocational training (TVET). The country’s  Education and Training Sector Strategy 2013-2020 is the recent education plan. While some African countries have an independent Teacher Service Commission, Cameroon does not. the Ministry of Secondary Education, is the responsible for overseeing secondary school teachers and educational matters. 

A few organizations aim to capture education policies on specific themes across countries, including Cameroon. UNESCO’s  Profiles Enhancing Education Reviews (PEER) covering the themes of the Global Education Monitoring reports, including:  inclusion in education (2020 Report),  non-state actors in education (2021/22 Report),  technology in education (2023 Report) and leadership in education (2024/25 Report, forthcoming). PEER also covers additional topics on key SDG 4 issues, including  financing for equity ,  climate change communication and education , and  comprehensive sexuality education . Another example is the World Bank’s  Education Policy Dashboard . 

Knowledge Repositories

Only a few links to the literature on education by theme for Cameroon, Africa, and globally were provided earlier to keep the brief short, but repositories of digital resources facilitate access to the literature. A few of those repositories are listed below by alphabetical order:

• 3ie Development Evidence Portal (DEP): DEP is a repository of rigorous evidence on what works in international development, including in the area of  education . 
• AERD : The African Education  Research Database hosted by the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge collates research by African scholars on education.
• African Development Bank: The Bank has  publications that cover a range of topics, including education. It also hosts  ADEA which also has selected  publications . 
• Global Partnership for Education:  GPE is one of the largest funders for education in Africa. It collaborates with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to build and mobilize evidence on education through the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE KIX), which has a Library of research outputs.
• J-PAL: The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab maintains a database of impact evaluations and policy publications, quite a few of which are about education.
• RePEc: Research Papers in Economics is a large archive of research on economics, including the economics of education. It can be searched through  IDEAS .
• Teacher Task Force (TTF): The TTF is collaborative across many organizations hosted by UNESCO. It maintains a  Knowledge Hub with resources on teacher policies. 
• UNESCO HQ: UNESCO is the lead agency in the UN systems on education. Its  Digital Library includes  UNESCO Open Access which includes most UNESCO publications. 
• UNESCO GEM : UNESCO publishes annually a Global Education Monitoring Report on a different theme each year with associated resources and background papers.
• UNESCO IICBA: IICBA is a Category 1 Institute at UNESCO. It conducts research on education in Africa with several publication series and maintains a digital repository.
• UNICEF: Publications can be found under  Reports , the  Office of Global Insight and Policy , and the  Office of Research . Also of interest is the  Data Must Speak initiative.
• World Bank: The  Open Knowledge Repository provides access to the Bank’s research. It includes a section on  Africa with country pages including for  Cameroon .

Many organizations maintain websites that include country pages with useful information. Examples include the  GPE Cameroon Country Page ;  UNICEF Cameroun Country Page ;  World Bank Cameroon Country Page ;  UNESCO IIEP Country Page . Many organizations also maintain blogs on education issues, often with stories on Africa. Examples include  Education for All (Global Partnership for Education),  Education for Global Development (World Bank),  Education Plus Development (Brookings Institutions), and  World Education Blog (UNESCO). Beyond blogs focusing on education, blogs on Africa more generally may also provide useful resources. This includes  Africa Can End Poverty and  Nasikiliza (the World Bank’s two blogs for sub-Saharan Africa ) and  Arab Voices (the Bank’s blog for the Middle East and North Africa).

While education data are available on the website of the  Ministry of Education , it is often useful to download data for Cameroon and other countries from multi-country databases. The largest database on development, including education data, is the World Bank’s  World Development Indicators (WDI). The World Bank also maintain the  Education Statistics (EdStats) database. Both World Bank databases rely in part for education on data from the  UNESCO Institute of Statistics . UNESCO also maintains the  Global Education Observatory and the  World Inequality Database in Education (WIDE), as well as a wide range of  other databases . Specific estimates are occasionally maintained by other agencies. For example,  UNICEF provides data on out-of-school rates, adjusted net attendance rates, completion rates, foundational learning skills, information communication technology skills, youth and adult literacy rates, and school-age digital connectivity. Another useful reference is  StatCompiler which provides data at various levels of aggregation from Demographic and Health Surveys across countries and over time, including Cameroon. For comparison purposes, data from the  OECD for member and partner countries (including South Africa) can be useful.

References are available through the links provided in this brief.

• Education Statistics

Education Statistics (EdStats)

Cameroon: Improving the Quality of Primary Education to Ensure Sustainable Growth

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YAOUNDÉ, April 24, 2014 – Entitled Reexamining the Sources of Growth–the Quality of Basic Education, the seventh issue of the Cameroon Economic Update, published by the World Bank country office in Cameroon, assesses the macroeconomic situation in the country.  This issue focuses on the basic education sector.

Despite the gloomy global economic situation, Cameroon’s growth rate could stand at roughly 4.6 percent in 2013, owing to a robust tertiary sector and the boost received from industrial agriculture. 

The outlook for the oil sector is also promising—production is expected to double as a result of the drilling in new oil fields.  In addition, the first generation of large-scale infrastructure projects should be completed in the coming years.  However, the buildup of arrears, the deterioration in the business climate, and public investment execution delays are casting a pall on this outlook.

“ Although the Cameroonian economy has been growing at a fairly decent rate of 3 to 5 percent per year for the past decade, at this pace the country will not be able to achieve the target set by the Government in its Vision 2035 ,” noted Souleymane Coulibaly, World Bank Lead Economist for Central Africa and one of the main authors of this report .

“ This situation focuses renewed attention on the sources of growth in Cameroon so as to identify action areas that can help the country­ achieve the growth rates needed for sustainable development and poverty reduction, ” stated Gregor Binkert , World Bank Country Director for Cameroon.

Endogenous growth theories have been tested over the past three decades in a large number of countries and have confirmed the key role played by human capital in economic growth.  In this regard, education and health (covered in the previous issue of the Cameroon Economic Update) can contribute significantly to Cameroon’s bid to achieve emerging economy status by 2035.

Access to basic education has improved greatly in the past ten years.  While primary school gross enrolment rates rose from 102.8 percent in 2001 to 112.9 percent in 2011, learning outcomes have deteriorated, even though they remain above those of comparable African countries.

It also bears noting that despite the additional public assistance allocated to what are known as the priority zones (Far North, North, Adamaoua, and East), learning outcomes in these zones continue to lag.  This issue also discusses the gap between the urban and rural areas, the cost of education, and the effectiveness of the human and financial public resources allocated to this sector.

“ In the future, the public authorities should be able to focus on the most important issues by improving data collection in order to better track the delivery of education services, assessing student outcomes in a more systematic manner, increasing budget allocations to education as a whole, reallocating, on a priority basis, public expenditure to the priority education zones, ensuring transparency in budget appropriations, and reexamining the textbook policy to ensure the sustainability and affordability of these tools, ” affirmed Shobhana Sosale, World Bank Task Team Leader for Education and co-author of this report.

The aim of the Cameroon Economic Update is to share information and foster discussion aimed at helping improve the economic management of the country and unleashing its tremendous economic potential. Published biannually, it analyzes economic trends and issues.

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The Historical Foundation of Education in Cameroon

Historical Foundation of Education in Cameroon Preamble The purpose of this book is to help Bachelor in Education (B.Ed), Master in Education (M.Ed) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in education students and teachers recognise the worth of the history of education, and examine their role and significance in the whole process of education in Cameroon. This book explores the historical development of education in Cameroon from the Traditional (indigenous) Education in the sixteen century, through the post-colonial era (1960-Present) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to current concerns about the Cameroon educational system in the twenty-first century. It aims to showcase a chronological list of educational administration and policy activities in Cameroon as presented according to the following twelve areas of study: • Chapter one provides a brief situation of the Republic of Cameron in the world map; • Chapter two will discuss about African indigenous education; • Chapter three will tell us about education in Cameroon in the pre-colonial era (1844-1884, which consists of missionaries’ participation in education); • Chapter four will discuss about the colonial era (1884-1960/61) which consists of: the German protectorate (1884-1914); the years of the First World War and peace settlement (1914-1946); French and British mandates (1922-1946); Education in French Cameroon Mandate (1916-1946); Education in British Cameroon Mandate (1914-1946); French and British Trusteeship (1946- 1960/1961); the trusteeship in French Cameroon; the Trusteeship period in British Southern Cameroons; • Chapter five informs us about the Decolonisation of Education in Cameroon since Independence in 1960/1961. It will address education in the federation period (1960-1972); education in the United Republic of Cameroon (1972-1984); education in the Republic of Cameroon (1984-2004); • Chapter six informs us about the current state of education in Cameroon and where it is relevant to the development of education administration generally. • In chapter seven, students and teachers will develop a comprehensive understanding of the terms what is education in the light of the various purpose and historical aims of education perspectives that have influenced education in Cameroon. The goals of education are essentially basic ways of thinking about schooling in Cameroon. • Chapter eight reviews the different types of education: formal, informal and non-formal processes of education in Cameroon. • Chapter nine will dwell on the influence of the Cameroon educational context, such as demographic, economic, resources, cultural, violence, health, political and administrative issues in teaching and learning. • In chapter ten, students and teachers will examine the ideological phenomenon influencing structural reforms in Cameroon’s educational systems (e.g. Indigenous traditional African education, pre-colonial and colonial education; uprising and revolts in Cameroon’s major cities; the formation of political parties, ruralisation, harmonisation, bilingualism, information technology, Cameroon Anglophone crisis, bilingualism and multiculturalism influencing structural reforms in Cameroon’s educational system • In chapter eleven, the significance of global challenges affecting the social structure of education in Cameroon economically, politically, health wise, environmentally, and social challenges are discussed. Other important global issues are discussed (e.g. eradication of poverty, hunger, epidemics, and underdevelopment (UN Millennium Goals); climate change and natural disasters; human rights and human dignity; cybercrimes; terrorism (causes and consequences); gender and minority issues (inclusion and social justice); education and the middle class; human diversity (racial, tribal, linguistic, religious, cultural, sexual orientation); stereotypes, bias and prejudice are discussed in details; • And finally chapter twelve considers the benefits of wellness education and in return strengthens individuals, groups, organisations, country in the seven dimensions of wellness. It includes: physical wellness, social wellness, spiritual wellness, intellectual wellness, environmental wellness, occupational wellness and the emotional wellness and fully supports in the realisation of the fullest potential of an individual physically, psychologically, socially, spiritually and economically, and the fulfilment of one's role as far as expectations in the family, community, place of worship, workplace and other settings are concerned. From the above submission, it becomes clear in the conclusion that the education system of Cameroon is very unique in Africa. A historical evolution of the country’s educational system exposes the influence of indigenous, cultural colonialism in the Cameroon education system, bringing out ideological phenomena that have either directly or indirectly affected structural reforms in Cameroon’s education system. Even though school enrolment continues to increase despite the economic hardship, the country is still far from enjoying a strong positive nexus vis-à-vis education and economic development. As the government tries to carry out educational reforms that will uplift the country from these doldrums of mediocrity of the French and the English systems, it must also try to improve on the private and faith sectors which will play a vital part in linking education and economic development.

Related Papers

Historical Foundation of Education in Cameroon

Professor Frederick Ebot Ashu

Prosper Mbelle Mekolle

Public policy is critical in defining the direction of any institution, organization or country, including its education sector. An education policy as a public policy enhances, authenticates and regulates educational processes in a nation. A good education policy must be anchored on the attributes of good policy. Since independence, the Cameroon government has adopted different educational legislations which have guided educational processes over the years. While some scholars view these as constituting Cameroon’s education policy, others argue that their disjointed and incomprehensive nature does not qualify what exists as education policy. This conceptual paper critically examined public policy on education in contemporary Cameroon vis-à-vis the attributes of a good policy. It fortifies the existing structure for potential subsequent studies in education policy, and correlation with such variables as system effectiveness. The paper draws from the fact that educational policy lapses have constituted backdrop for the recent and ongoing conflict in the Anglophone regions of the country. Hence, it raises issues and offers insight intended to stimulate education policy makers towards action. The authors conclude that there is a big vacuum in terms of comprehensiveness, quality, adequacy and access in Cameroon’s education policy as a close comparative look at the situation in other African countries shows that Cameroon does not have one. The paper thus recommends on the urgent need for a National Conference on Education of the like of the 1995 Education Forum tasked among others to review all disjointed educational legislations and establish a comprehensive education policy to guide and regulate educational practices in the country’s two sub-systems of education.

Introduction Naturally, human beings are in the habit of making comparison of the things that are around them particularly when such things exist in different places. This may be done as a result of man's desire to know the relationship existing between, or among the things being compared.

Armstrong Ndi

This study is an examination of traditional education in Nso Land. A brief portrait of Traditional Cameroonian education is vital since Nso is one of the ethnic groups found in Cameroon. There are various types of Traditional Education that was carried out at the time before the influence of Western and Eastern civilizations. Despite the dominance and conquest of the African peoples by Arabic and European regimes, contemporary Africa still exhibits surviving aspects of African educational systems albeit that they are fragmented.

Roland Ndille

The British colonial policy of education in the Southern Cameroons was guided by the philosophy of adapting education to the mentality, aptitude and occupations of the local population. This policy was gradually abandoned in the 1950s when it was realized that it was serving the colonial exploitative agenda of keeping natives to a permanently rural existence instead of meeting the needs of an independent state. Surprisingly, despite the so much talked of 'need for education to rid itself of the colonial stranglehold', a few years after independence, the government of Cameroon opted for the policy of ruralisation of education. This paper, examines the basic motivation for returning to such a policy and the outcome.

Scientific Research Publishing

This study explains that lack of harmonization is responsible for the problems of equity and quality education in Cameroon. The objective of this paper is to inquire whether the discrepancies in achievement levels of students from the two sub-systems of education in Cameroon can be traced in lack of harmonization. To attain this objective, a mixed research method of quantitative and qualitative data collection was used to diagnose the problems of lack of harmonization in the educational sub-systems of Cameroon. Some of the problems highlighted include, lack of equity and quality education in both general and technical secondary schools. This paper therefore, exploits Dewey’s democratic theory of education, James Banks multicultural theory of education and the system theory in order to emphasize the importance of harmonization in educational development of Cameroon. A critical perspective is recommended for the process of harmonization. This emphasizes harmonization in a multicultural context. In order to produce democratic citizens for a democratic and multicultural society, a blending of values must recognize and preserve the differences that exist. That is, the experiences of learners, aptitudes and cultures must be given recognition.

African Journal for Education and Practice

Purpose: There is a consensus amongst social scientists and public administration practitioners about the importance of decolonising the curriculum at African universities, given that the Western model of academic organisation on which both the English and French Cameroonian university educational systems are based, remains largely unchallenged. Decolonisation involves removing the barriers that have silenced non-Western voices in our ‘multi-cultural’ higher education system and combatting the epistemic injustices of a system dominated by Western thought. In this paper add to the conversation that the curriculum currently taught in Cameroonian universities does not meet the realities of the new Republic of Cameroon. This research was designed as a qualitative case study with the aim to investigates the process of decolonizing educational leadership and administration curriculum in Cameroonian universities preparing school leaders supporting quality education through effective leadership and administration. Methodology: To address this problem, this paper conducts two qualitative thematic reviews. The first is of the literature on decolonising curricula, with the aim of identifying a theoretical framework that can be applied to the specific context of the educational leadership and administration curriculum at the University of Buea in Cameroon, which is the focus of this study. These are Critical Decolonial Theoretical Framework (CDTF), and living theory methodology. It then further reviews the historical and contemporary curricula in Cameroon. Findings: The finding section shows how curricula were used by the colonial authorities to entrench coloniality and Western imperialism, and how globalisation serves to perpetuate those inequalities. Building on this understanding, it was evident that there was a dire need in Cameroon for a path towards the establishment of an indigenising curriculum, beyond the simple addition of indigenous local, national and international content. This paper was chosen as a case study since it offers the opportunity to embed the notion of decolonised curricula in the next generation of school leaders and educational scholars in Cameroon. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: The paper concludes with a case study proposing a decolonised educational administration and leadership curriculum at the department of Educational Foundations and Administration, Faculty of Education, University of Buea.

Jean Paul Kouega

This article overviews the Cameroon Anglophone educational system from the origins, through the period of Reunification with La République du Cameroun, to the present time. In the process, it highlights the issues that have pushed Anglophone lawyers and teachers to launch a series of protests that have plagued the economy of West Cameroon and seriously affected a whole academic year. Some of the issues identified include the poor state of technical education in the area, the use of French in Anglophone courts and in secondary schools, the difficulty Anglophone students face in tertiary level education where French is dominant, and when writing competitive entrance examinations into professional schools, the programme of which is French-based. Possible solutions to these problems include the creation of technical schools like the former Ombe reference technical school, either the creation of Anglophone professional schools or the transfer of the duties of existing professional schools to university faculties, the re-designing of the English syllabus for francophone secondary schools and that of French for Anglophone schools and, most importantly, the systematic certification of bilingual competence in Cameroon which will, in due course, be made a requirement for recruitment, appointment and posting of civil servants.

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Emmanuel Suh Ngwa PhD, Department of Educational Leadership Faculty of Education, University of Bamenda, Cameroon

Prosper Mbelle Mekolle PhD, Department of Educational Foundations & Administration, Faculty of Education, University of Buea, Cameroon

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PUBLIC POLICY ON EDUCATION IN CONTEMPORARY CAMEROON: PERSPECTIVES, ISSUES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Public policy is critical in defining the direction of any institution, organization or country, including its education sector. An education policy as a public policy enhances, authenticates and regulates educational processes in a nation. A good education policy must be anchored on the attributes of good policy. Since independence, the Cameroon government has adopted different educational legislations which have guided educational processes over the years. While some scholars view these as constituting Cameroon’s education policy, others argue that their disjointed and incomprehensive nature does not qualify what exists as education policy. This conceptual paper critically examined public policy on education in contemporary Cameroon vis-à-vis the attributes of a good policy. It fortifies the existing structure for potential subsequent studies in education policy, and correlation with such variables as system effectiveness. The paper draws from the fact that educational policy lapses have constituted backdrop for the recent and ongoing conflict in the Anglophone regions of the country. Hence, it raises issues and offers insight intended to stimulate education policy makers towards action. The authors conclude that there is a big vacuum in terms of comprehensiveness, quality, adequacy and access in Cameroon’s education policy as a close comparative look at the situation in other African countries shows that Cameroon does not have one. The paper thus recommends on the urgent need for a National Conference on Education of the like of the 1995 Education Forum tasked among others to review all disjointed educational legislations and establish a comprehensive education policy to guide and regulate educational practices in the country’s two sub-systems of education.

Article visualizations:

Adeola, F. (2009). Education for what purpose? 49th Founders’ day lecture, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 7th October.

Anja, N. S. (2000). A hand book of educational legislation: An introduction to school rules and regulations for schools and colleges of education. Unique Printers.

Babalola, J. B. (2013). Educating for sustainable development in Africa. His Lineage Publishing House.

Bell, L. and Stevenson, H. (2006). Educational policy: Process, themes, and impacts. Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

Birkland, T. A. (2001). An introduction to the policy process; theories, concepts, and models of public policy making. M.E. Sharpe.

Biya, P. (2000). Address by the President of the Republic to the youths of Cameroon on the 34th National Youth Day. National Printing Press.

Denga, D. (2005). Introduction to sociology of education. Magnet Publishers.

Fonkeng, G. E. (2010). The history of education in Cameroon: 1844-2010. Moda Publishers.

Hoy, W. K. and Miskel, C. G. (1996). Educational administration: Theory, research, and practice. McGraw-Hill.

Javed, B., Khan, Z. and McClatchey, R. (2018). An adaptable system to support provenance management for the public policy-making process in smart cities. Informatics 2018, 5(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/informatics5010003.

Mbua, F. N. (2003). Educational administration: Theory and practice. The management of organisations and individuals. Design House.

Mekolle, P. M. (2018). Private financing and access to secondary education in the South West Region of Cameroon: A situational analysis and strategies for improvement. Faculty of Education, University of Buea, Cameroon (unpublished PhD Thesis).

Mekolle, P. M. (2019). Towards inclusive education: Reconciling household obligatory financing and the problem of access to secondary education in Cameroon. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development, 3(3), 1634-1644. Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD23521.

Ngwa, E. S. (2020). Primary and Secondary Education in Cameroon: Problems and Issues. Being Lecture Notes for the Course EDLZ2209 -Problems & Issues of Primary & Secondary Education in Cameroon; Educational Leadership, University of Bamenda, Cameroon.

Njung, G. N., Tazanu, L.M. and Nfor, E. N. (2003). Introduction to History: Cameroon. ANUCAM.

Norwich University. (2020). Characteristics of a successful public policy. Retrieved on 27/06/20 from http://online.norwich.edu/academic-programs/masters/public-administration/resources/infographics/characteristics-of-successful-public-policy

Pellissery, S. (2015). Public Policy. The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty. Sage.

Peters, B. G. (2015). Advanced introduction to public policy. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Republic of Cameroon (1996). Law No. 96-06 of 18 January 1996 to amend the Constitution of 2 June 1972. Groupe Mauger.

Republic of Cameroon (2010). Growth and Employment Strategy Paper for 2010–2020. International Monetary Fund.

Republic of Cameroon (1998). Law No. 98/004 of 14th April to lay down Guidelines for Education in Cameroon. Presidency of the Republic.

Shu, S. N. (2000). Landmarks in Cameroon education (Rev. Ed.). NOOREMAC Press.

Tambo, L. I. (2003a). Cameroon national education policy since the 1995 Forum. Design House.

Tambo, L. I. (2003b). Principles and methods of teaching. Application in Cameroon schools. Pressprint.

Tamukong, J. A. (2004). Towards better management of public education in Cameroon. Africa Development, XXIX (2), 134-157.

U.S. Department of Education. (2010). No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Retrieved on 11/6/2020 from: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html.

Uchem, R. and Ngwa, E. S. (2014). The implementation of inclusive education in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Lessons for Nigeria and Cameroon. Journal of Education and Practice, 5(36), 93-100.

World Bank (2010). World development indicators 2010. World Bank Data Bank. Accessed at: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators.

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Education NGOs and CSOs in Cameroon

The Cameroon Education for All Network (CEFAN) is the leading and most broad-based umbrella network for education civil society in Cameroon. It has set itself the goal to make a strong contribution to achieving the goals of Education For All in Cameroonian society. The main education trade unions, more commonly known by their French names are National Union of Teachers of Basic Education (Syndicat National des Instituteurs de l’Enseignement de Base), the National Union of Primary and Nursery Education (Syndicat National de l’Enseignement Primaire et Maternel), the Cameroon Federation of Trade Union of Education (Fédération Camerounaise des Syndicat de l’Enseignement) and the National Union of Teachers in Cameroon (Syndicat National des Enseignants du Cameroun). Some of the charities working in Cameroon include Commit2Africa, Defence For Children International, Kids Education CONCERN, Link Up Charity Foundation, United Action For Children Learning Tools for Self Development and United Action for Children.

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Of all regions, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of education exclusion. Over one-fifth of children between the ages of about 6 and 11 are out of school, followed by one-third of youth between the ages of about 12 and 14. According to UIS data, almost 60% of youth between the ages of about 15 and 17 are not in school. 

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January 9th, 2023

Indigenous knowledge and environmental education in cameroon.

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

After being supressed by colonial powers, Indigenous Knowledge is making a comeback. It is being promoted by development organisations and Western governments alike, particularly in the field of environmental stewardship. But to understanding its rebirth it is vital to understand its history, writes Ambe Njoh.

Indigenous knowledge, or IK as it is now fondly called, is making a comeback.  IK has become a favourite buzzword in international development circles. Leading aid donors are vying for position in a race to incorporate IK in their development projects and programmes.

The World Bank now has an Indigenous Knowledge Program. Not to be outdone, the United States’ White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House Council on Environmental Quality have just jointly issued government-wide guidance on IK. It implores Federal agencies working in non-Western settings to recognise and include IK in their research, policy, and decision-making agendas. This marks a remarkable revival for IK in international development thinking.

With IK’s revival has come calls for its incorporation in formal education programmes. However, success in this regard is unlikely without a good understanding of how IK lost its allure in the first place. In Africa, it was one of the major casualties of European colonialism. In their bid to assimilate and acculturate Africans, European colonial authorities instructed them to abandon their cultural and traditional practices: “the Europeanisation of Africa” as Chinua Achebe memorably wrote in Things Fall Apart.

The irony is that Westerners are now instructing Africans to re-embrace the same ways of life and know-how they once disparaged, vilified, and condemned.  Such a proposition is bound to encounter challenges, especially in a country such as Cameroon which came under the colonial orbit of multiple European powers. In the face of global climate change, at the forefront of these challenges is how to incorporate IK in environmental education (EE).

I ndigenous knowledge and formal education in Cameroon

Cameroon was colonised by Germany from 1884 until the end of World War I in 1918. Thereafter, the territory was divided into two unequal parts of 4/5th and 1/5th and placed under the respective colonial control of France and Britain.

To the extent that indigenous languages can be viewed as a vehicle for transmitting IK, one can argue that some colonial powers were paradoxically more tolerant of IK than others. This depended mainly, although not exclusively, on how they prioritised the need to assimilate Africans. Von Puttkammer, the pioneer German Governor General of colonial Cameroon decreed German as the sole language of instruction throughout the territory in 1897.

The years following Germany’s abrupt exit as a colonial power from Cameroon witnessed ebbs and flows in efforts to incorporate IK in formal education. French colonial authorities shared the view of their German predecessors by prioritising the need to assimilate Africans. This dovetailed neatly into their mission to civilise ‘cultural others’ (la mission civilisatrice) . They adopted the German colonial education policy and mandated French as the sole language of instruction in schools.

In British colonial Cameroon, the story was different. Education was conducted on a dual-track system—one rural and the other urban. Native languages were permitted in rural areas (although not in science courses). This continued until the end of the colonial era in Cameroon in 1960/61. Upon gaining independence, the indigenous leadership, like their colonial predecessors, forbade the use of indigenous language as a tool of instruction throughout the country. French was mandated as the exclusive language of instruction in Francophone Cameroon, while English was assigned the same designation in Anglophone Cameroon.

Indigenous knowledge and environmentalism in Cameroon    

There is no shortage of indigenous knowledge in Africa. It resides in many sources within any given country including its historical, economic, social, political, ecological, cultural, and technological contexts. Any meaningful effort to incorporate IK in environmental education must utilise these sources.

Traditionally, Africans used oral history to pass knowledge about nature from one generation to the next. Through frequent storytelling, they taught children about their community, its mores, beliefs, and behaviours. They did this during late-evening hours under the moonlight or around fireplaces. The storytellers were usually family elders, who became griots: experts profoundly knowledgeable on African tradition, culture and history.

There were folktales and myths that held that the Earth, including bodies of water, hills and mountains were the home of ancestral spirits. There were also folktales that told of ancestral spirits causing agricultural and human fertility as well as protecting the living from illnesses and other dangers. If nothing else, this gave people reason to be good environmental stewards. Within this frame of thinking, doing otherwise would provoke the wrath of ancestral spirits.

Many African folktales conveyed lessons on environmental stewardship. A common folktale in Anglophone West Africa tells of Mammy Water, the water goddess causing anyone who defecates or dumps in a river or other body of water to drown. Such folktales were meant to discourage people from excreting or dumping in rivers, streams and lakes. Folktales about locusts, droughts, floods, and other devastating natural disasters are also commonplace. Some of these are tales about how communities managed to survive these disasters and became more resilient.

A well-known folktale about disaster survival and resilience is culled from ancient Egypt and mentioned in the Bible (see Genesis 41: 25-36). The tale tells of how Egyptians of the Bronze Age managed to avoid starvation during seven years of droughts thanks to the foresight of their king, who had arranged to save much food during seasons of bountiful harvests.  Knowledge of these facts is not only of historical importance. It can constitute valuable input for contemporary disaster mitigation and relief initiatives.

In the name of modernisation and the pursuit of economic growth, the colonial and post-colonial governments in Cameroon have aggressively promoted cash crop farming and commensurate mono-cropping techniques. In doing so, they effectively discourage mixed-crop farming that is indigenous to the country. African IK holds that planting different types of crops, for instance, maize and beans, on the same plot of land increases soil fertility and combats weeds. This tends to increase crop yield. IK also contains information on how to produce insecticides from plant derivatives.

A meticulous comparison of so-called modern farming methods and traditional alternatives provides an opportunity to showcase the advantages of IK over Western knowledge. To be sure, mono-cropping may guarantee higher yields over shorter durations. However, in contrast to mixed-crop farming, it causes the rapid depletion of soil nutrients, soil weakness, and overall soil damage especially because it requires the use of fertilisers.

Incorporating IK into environmental education may involve as little as drawing students’ attention to environmental activities around them. It may require no more than showing students of environmentalism how African norms, folktales, and beliefs relate to what they are taught in class.

Alternatively, it may be more encompassing, including IK as part of the environmental education curriculum and mandating specific activities to be covered. In this case, it can be prescriptive in specifying exactly what activity has to be done. The activity may include taking students on field trips to peasant farming villages. It may also entail inviting local farmers to come and talk about their activities to students in formal environmental studies classes.

However it is done, it is clear that IK will once again play an important role in environmental education.

Photo credit: Global Partnership for Education used under  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

About the author

Ambe Njoh is the lead author of ‘Challenges to Indigenous Knowledge Incorporation in Basic Environmental Education in Anglophone Cameroon,’ which recently appeared in the Journal of Asian and African Studies. He is Professor of Environmental Science & Policy, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, USA.

As usual, excellent article prof. I didn’t expect anything less. I thoroughly enjoyed how you shed light on the way our oral myths ensured sustainable environmental practices. Worthy of note is the fact that mono-cropping is focused on cash crops whose price is determined by the buyers to our detriment.

Prof, you quote Achebe’s “Europeanisation of Africa” as a significant catalyst to the demise of IK. I agree with you, given that you develop your argument along the lines of the French colonial policy of assimilation in francophone Africa (voir Paris et mourir) and the Belgian (actually Leopold II) policy of paternalism. However, how did the British colonial policy of indirect rule contribute to the demise of IK? In lusophone Africa, coercive labor, tax exactions, racial discrimination, authoritarian politics, and economic exploitation were the fundamental pillars of Portuguese colonialism in Africa. How would these have eroded IK?

It would be interesting to read from you on cultural appropriation in the future. As usual, thanks immensely for sharing from your fountain of knowledge.

Beautifully crafted, succinct and mind-blowing. Thanks for this beautiful write-up.

Prof. This is thought provoking and I hope it gets the necessary attention from our policy makers.

Thanks, Prof Ambe, for this powerful intellectual and cultural contribution in highlighting and advancing the reemergence of critical indigenous, Afrocentric or what I like to call non-traditional knowledge and development once interrupted by a ruthless colonial experience in Africa. Even with its shortcomings, Africa is bouncing back. You are doing your part in combating the steady drumbeat of negative stereotypes of the continent. Despite the developmental African faux pas by the corrupt and incompetent political class which is a carryover from the colonial era, we are experiencing a reemerging Africa. I am excited and looking forward to the enlightenment from you blog. It was so fitting to hear the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres recently say, Africa is ‘a source of hope’ for the world, highlighting some of her recent achievements despite the deeply unfair global systems.

Brilliant views. A return to the old is now encouraged after decades of making others feel like idiots.

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Breaking gender barriers through education

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Roseline Adewuyi  is a fervent advocate for gender equality in Nigeria, driven by a passion for dismantling entrenched gender stereotypes. She spoke to Africa Renewal’s  Kingsley Ighobor on the need to empower girls through education. This is in line with the African Union’s theme for 2024: Educating and skilling Africa for the 21 st   Century.

Roseline Adewuyi believes that fighting gender inequality requires raising awareness and empowering young women and girls through education.

“My goal is to help break those barriers that limit our potential,” she told  African Renewal  in an interview. “I am talking about issues related to land rights, access to education, economic empowerment, leadership, and trust me, gender discrimination.”

Gender discrimination, she explains, is heightened during times of severe economic constraints such as now, when the tendency is often to invest in boys over girls. “That’s when parents often choose to send their sons to school or provide them start-up funding for business ventures, while daughters are expected to focus on house chores and wait for marriage. It’s absolutely absurd.” she insists. 

Roseline has her work cut out for her. “We are constantly finding ways to help women and girls break free from these constraints.” 

She founded the Ending Gender Stereotypes in Schools (ENGENDERS) project, which is dedicated to unlearning gender stereotypes in educational institutions.

“We reach the students, boys and girls in high schools and universities, and we do community engagement, speaking to parents and other influential community inhabitants,” she explains.

Already, she claims to have reached tens of communities and over 6,000 young girls through seminars and webinars, while her  blog , featuring over 300 articles on gender equity, has garnered a wide audience.

Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in French Literature with a focus on women, gender, and sexuality studies at Purdue University in Indiana, US, Roseline now aims to merge academic rigour with passionate advocacy.

“It’s an interesting intersection,” she says, adding that “The body of knowledge that we pass on to future generations is full of gender stereotypes. Our books need to be gender conscious.

“In most African literature, characters often depict women or girls as housemaids and men as pilots or engineers. It reinforces stereotypes; we need to root it out,” she stresses.

Roseline's journey into gender advocacy began in her childhood, fueled by a belief in the transformative power of education. She recognized the systemic challenges faced by African women and girls, including limited access to education and entrenched cultural biases.

“When I served as a prefect in secondary school, the belief among boys and even some girls was that I did not merit the position, that leadership was reserved for the boys. That experience sparked my curiosity as to why girls weren’t perceived as equally competent as boys.”

In 2019, she worked as a translator and interpreter for the African Union (AU), having been selected as one of 120 young people from various African countries to participate in the AU Youth Volunteer Corps. 

Her exposure to continental leaders' efforts to address gender-related challenges reinforced her conviction that gender equality is essential for achieving sustainable peace and security.

“At the AU, I also realized the connection between gender and peace and security. When there is a crisis, it is women who suffer the most. Therefore, women must be at the centre of efforts to achieve peace in our societies,” she adds.

Her international exposure includes being a participant in the Young African Leaders Initiative in 2016 (YALI – Regional Leadership Center West Africa), as well as being a Dalai Lama fellow in 2018. She says these experiences exposed her to gender best practices and strengthened her resolve to advocate for change in her home country.

Although some advances have been made in gender equality in Nigeria, Roseline highlights that the remaining hurdles include challenges in female land ownership, financial inclusion, and access to education.

“For example, we have laws [in Nigeria] that provide for women’s rights to land, but many communities still prevent them from owning a piece of land. We also have situations in which widows are not allowed to inherit the properties of their husbands. 

She says: “So, we have a lot more work to do. We need effective community engagement in raising awareness among women about their rights.

“Importantly, we need to provide women with access to education to equip them with the knowledge and skills to assert their rights effectively.”

In her ongoing advocacy work, she acknowledges facing cyberbullying, which she attributes to resistance from elements of a patriarchal society reluctant to embrace progress.

Roseline's final message to young African women and girls is for them to drive positive change, stand up for their rights, and challenge gender norms.

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