5.2 The Case of Cameroon

A. Context
B. Factors
C. Recommendations

A. Context

a. General

The United Republic of Cameroon/République Unie du Cameroun took its present form in 1961 following the readjustment of the border with Nigeria by which some former territory was ceded. However, not all the anglophone regions transferred, and the present republic comprises anglophone provinces and francophone provinces. Beneath this anglo-gallic overlay there is a complex pattern of tribal cultures and languages and some remnants of the earlier German colonial legacy.

Environmentally, Cameroon is often referred to as 'Africa in miniature', as its ecological zones range from the Sahara Desert in the north to equatorial forest in the south. Hence the varied human response and adaptation and the resulting complex of cultures. Outside of the arid regions the soils are generally supportive, though for the size of the country the population total (about 10 million), and the overall density (about 14 per square kilometre) are very modest. However, the current rate of population increase is extremely high. There are several significant urban clusters associated with administrative and economic developments, notably the elevated inland capital Yaoundé, the major port of Douala and the prime anglophone centres of Bamenda and Buea. Corridors of modernisation have developed along major routes between these centres, encouraging urbanisation, possibly at the expense of rural societies and economies.

With well developed export agriculture and certain mineral resources, especially petroleum, the economy of the Cameroons has been among the healthiest in Africa until the last few years. Having both British and French links still strong and with needy neighbours, there has been a diversified trading position, but a notable decline is evident in the economy. Furthermore, the distribution of wealth would seem to be somewhat limited, with a per capita income of only about $US600 pa, placing the country in the lower range of the middle income group of developing countries, despite the existence of a substantial middle class.

Religious affiliations have some educational significance in that both Christian and Islamic organisations have played their part in the provision of schooling. This means that Arabic is added to the list of significant languages especially in the north. There is a broad association between Protestant Christian approaches and anglophone colonial legacies in the NW and SW provinces, and between Roman Catholic and francophone traditions elsewhere. Because of a massive migration into Central Province and Yaoundé in particular, the social geography of the capital is very complex with related educational implications.

b. Education

The diagram overleaf (T. N. Postlethwaite, 1988) shows the parallel anglophone and francophone systems of education in Cameroon. The pupils surveyed were in Primary 7 (anglophone) and CM2 (francophone).

THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF CAMEROON

Table 1: Primary Education in Selected Regions 1985-86

	CENTRE		SOUTH-WEST		FAR NORTH
	B	G	B	G	B	G
Class 1/C1	36,505	36,150	10,217	9,593	32,886	17,434
Class 2/CP	26,768	26,070	17,574	16,521	21,029	9,645
Class 3/CEI	30,784	29,869	13,382	12,949	20,768	8,606
Class 4/CE2	22,623	22,691	13,362	12,369	13,073	4,436
Class 5/CM1	22,452	22,379	12,139	11,323	11,269	2,729
Class 6/CM2	20,044	18,784	11,311	10,382	10,668	2,122
Class 7	155*	188*	7,355	6,028	-	-

*Anglophone classes in Yaoundé.

Statistics for Tables 1 and 2 based on Données générales de la scolarisation au Cameroun, Année scolaire 1985-6 Ministère de l'Education Nationale, Yaoundé, 1989.

Table 1 illustrates clearly the drop-out during the primary cycle and contrasts three regions: Central, South-West and the Far North. The figures for the Far North show a high degree of wastage, particularly where girls are concerned. The general level of female participation in education in Cameroon at the various levels when compared with that of boys can be seen in Table 2. It is particularly interesting to note how the gap widens as the pupils proceed through the system, the degree to which classes are repeated, and the ratio of male to female teachers.

Table 2: Figures for 1985 - 1986 Republic of Cameroon

SECTOR		PUPILS			REPEATERS			TEACHERS
		B	G	T	B	G	T	M	F
NURSERY	Public	21,320	20,808	42,12S	-	-	-	-	1,711
	Private	16,408	14,970	31,37S	-	-	-	10	733
	Total	37,728	35,778	73,506	-	-	-	10	2,444
PRIMARY	Public	627,840	500,719	1,128,559	202,860	154,656	357,516	29,433	6,376
	Private	229,658	277,101	576,760	75,118	66,860	141,978	4,828	2,617
	Total	927,499	777,820	1,705,319	277,978	221,516	499,494	24,605	8,993
GENERAL SECONDARY	Public	86,710	45,013	131,723	13,813	8,433	22,246	3,420	1,066
	Private	73,716	51,014	124,730	16,000	10,374	26,374	2,519	505
	Total	160,426	96,027	256,453	29,813	18,807	48,620	5,939	1,571
TECHNICAL SECONDARY	Public	14,995	7,592	22,587	2,482	1,410	3,892	1,022	488
	Private	33,671	26,961	60,632	4,597	3,844	8,441	1,252	362
	Total	48,666	34,553	83,219	7,079	5,254	12,333	2,274	810
TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGES	Public	2,267	1,591	3,858	186	110	296	372	112
	Private	99	101	200	-	-	-	15	3
	Total	2,366	1,692	4,058	186	110	296	387	115

c. Primary Perceptions

In Cameroon, 320 pupils (177 boys and 143 girls) were surveyed in both anglophone and francophone schools, in Yaoundé the capital, in villages in South-Central and North-Western provinces, and on the coast. The age-range in the final year of primary school ranged from 9-18, although the over-age pupils were found mainly in the rural schools. Late enrolment and repeating classes were both contributing to the high age profile in several schools. Average class-size was larger in Cameroon than in the other countries visited. Classes with 70-90 pupils on roll were not uncommon.

Survey results suggest that both boys and girls are equally involved in agricultural work in rural areas except, significantly, in the north where girls help less. Both sexes are also very involved in fetching water and caring for siblings, but particularly the girls. Involvement in the preparation of food was statistically significant for girls as compared with boys everywhere, except among elite anglophone families in Yaoundé. Boys and girls were equally involved and to a high degree in tasks such as sweeping. They went in equal numbers to the market or store except, again, in the north where it was more likely to be the boys who went. Although 88 per cent agreed that girls help at home more than boys, consensus was more general in the rural areas where girls are still playing a more traditional role. In urban areas the numbers of children saying they sometimes missed school because of doing jobs at home were low but 77 per cent of our anglophone pupils in the North-West and coastal areas said this sometimes happened to them. This percentage was exceeded only in the rural Bangladesh and rural Sierra Leone samples.

Only 63 per cent of the pupils surveyed agreed that "girls need to go to school as much as boys" and 27 per cent (mainly boys) went so far as to agree that "girls don't really need to go to school". Negative attitudes were generally strongest in the north and in rural areas, as one might expect, but were surprisingly high in the francophone survey schools in and near the capital.

In the various regions between 91-98 per cent of the pupils surveyed intended to marry. These Cameroonian pupils, particularly those in rural areas, wanted large families when they grew up. In the case of boy-children, the numbers were also high in urban areas. Indeed, the future family sizes imagined for themselves by these prospective mothers and fathers were by far the largest in the survey and reflect the high number of brothers and sisters they themselves have. The families of the pupils surveyed were again the largest in any of the countries studied (1-3 children: 9.3 per cent; 4-6 children: 49.5 per cent; 7-9 children: 36 per cent; 10 or more, 5.2 per cent). There was no statistical difference between the anglophone and francophone groups in this respect.

Career choices as in other countries reflected the breadth and sophistication of choice of urban pupils as compared with rural ones and the more restricted range of choice among girls whether urban or rural. It was noted that a very high proportion of the pupils' mothers were working outside the home whether in professional or government jobs among the urban elite or in subsistence farming or trading in rural areas.

B. Factors

i. Geographical

Cameroon is a mosaic of differing cultures, languages and religions, united only by the accident of colonial history. There is therefore great diversity in traditional attitudes towards women and girls and still today it is difficult to generalise about problems of female participation in education because of this diversity. Another factor which has added to this regional disparity is the geographical aspect of the educational penetration of the country by the various Christian missions: first in developing boys' education and later that for girls, the missions worked inwards from the coast. The north and east of Cameroon therefore are underdeveloped educationally even today, especially where girls are concerned. In 1955 primary enrolment was 6% in the north and 86% in the south-central province; the gap is smaller today but has not yet been closed.

In addition to local cultural variations, the major division of the Cameroons into anglophone and francophone areas is a significant one in that the relative neglect of the western regions has, over the last two decades led to the take-up of anglophone educational opportunities by both males and females in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana.

To compound this situation there is also the disparity between rural and urban areas in all parts of the country. Aspects of this dichotomy which affect the role, status and education of females include polygamy (declining more slowly in rural areas than in the towns), whether mothers work outside the home (26% in one rural school in the survey and 78% in a Yaoundé school) and family size, which although large in all parts of Cameroon, is bigger in rural areas and judging by children's plans as to their future families, is likely to remain so.

There was a strong school location policy in the west pre-unification, so that the network is well developed there, though the more recent policy of concentrating schools near the Nigerian border is deforming it to some degree. Here as elsewhere the disparities and gaps occur more at secondary level, where in some places girls cannot reach schools without living away from home, which is not acceptable to most parents (a 40-mile catchment radius is used by the authorities in planning secondary locations). As secondary participation becomes strained, it is the poorer families whose girls lose out as the economic factor emerges. There is certainly a need for more secondary boarding facilities.

At the primary level the potential problem of distance between home and school does not normally arise, although there is still a problem in the far north, particularly among nomadic groups.

ii. Socio-Cultural

This is an extremely important factor and socio-cultural attitudes to some extent account for the fact that the problem of female participation in education tends to be under acknowledged. (There are very few studies on the subject and the problem is often neither recognised nor appreciated.) Even if one accepts the hypothesis that traditionally Cameroonian women were 'parallel' or 'complementary' in their roles rather than oppressed, they were certainly in a marginal position.

Women were a scarce resource "given in marriage to the highest bidder". Their bride-price bought their labour, their sexuality and their child-bearing capacity. Marriage traditionally has been early, at puberty or just after in some tribal groups and before puberty in others. Early marriage is still common today in rural areas, and the tradition continues that marriage is the only possible future for a female: in one group for instance, all females are married - even widows immediately marrying their husband's heir. However, the girl-child is at least regarded as a valuable asset, if only for her work in the fields and for her bride-price. There is a sharp link between early marriage and the making of money. Although the father's role and influence is, in itself, declining, the continued operation of a patrilocal system and the custom of bride-price make investment in the education of girls less attractive to rural parents than that of boys. A girl is transitory within the family group.

Traditional non-formal education for girls in most tribal groups centred on preparing them to be good house-keepers and mothers. A satisfactory wife had "un ventre de fécondité", a strong spine (for working), good cooking skills and good manners. Her mother educated her towards this ideal. This traditional view conflicts with the curriculum of school and school may seen irrelevant to what is still seen as her only future role by many parents.

In most areas of Cameroon women have always worked in the fields and moved freely around the extended compounds and villages but in the Far Northern province there is a tradition of seclusion: meetings organised for women by the government are not attended and it is said that women are not allowed out even to vote. Such traditions have obvious implications for school drop-out at puberty where girls are concerned.

These differences between regions are reflected in our survey when the percentages of Primary 7 anglophone children disagreeing with the statement: "Girls need to go to school as much as boys" were 52% (northern rural), 31% (littoral rural and 19% (central urban).

There is a broad regional disparity in custom as between the north, the south and the west. In the North men still fear the independence of women that can come through education and there is more pressure on women to conform to traditional norms. In the large urban areas of the south and west there is a growing concern over delinquency in both sexes. This affects secondary education for a significant number and there are calls for both religious and health education to be strengthened.

iii. Health

This factor was hardly mentioned by respondents, though parents highlighted it in connection with the sexual dimension of the youth culture where sex education and the health of adolescent girls are matters of concern.

The custom of bride-price obviously protects the health of young girls to some extent, but early marriage and early pregnancy militate against health as well as against educational opportunity.

The female mortality rate is not however higher than that of males in Cameroon as it is in India and Vanuatu for example.

iv. Economic

Despite the relatively well developed and diversified economy, the economic factor was seen by most respondents as the most influential in respect of families facing problems of supporting their daughters in school. Cameroon has enjoyed something of a boom until recent years, but is now experiencing rapidly deteriorating economic circumstances, with the poverty factor likely to be affecting the take-up of primary schooling opportunities in the context of a significantly high birth rate.

The economy of polygamy is a significant factor in rural areas: "le travail familial a besoin de bras". More hands means more agricultural production and therefore more income: more income means a man can purchase more wives; this in turn increases production and income. More wives also means more daughters and therefore more bride-prices. The large polygamous families of the past are decreasing in number however.

Women play a central role in subsistence agriculture: they are the prime source of labour. In some tribal groups they own their own fields and own store-houses for grain. Their role in feeding or helping to feed the family has implications for their daughters who have to work with them both to help and also to learn the agricultural skills they will need later: school enrolment and attendance will obviously be affected. Girls may also be involved in their mothers' petty-trading activities with similar results.

It should be noted that modernisation in agriculture has been largely directed at cash crops (which are usually the men's concern) and not at subsistence agriculture which is where women are involved. Their tasks and those of their daughters have not become any easier or any less time-consuming.

There is thus a rather utilitarian view of girls within the traditional economy: that they are useful for housework and farming and will ultimately bring in a bride-price. This view is prevalent among both Muslims and Christians in the north and among the Bamilékés, for example, The girl then, unlike the boy who is often allowed to concentrate on his school-work, may be expected to divide her time between domestic duties and school. Our survey showed both boys and girls help extensively at home, girls more than boys in the preparation of food and the care of siblings.

In view of their work in farming and petty trading with their mothers, girls apparently may have a relaxed attitude to schooling. Many in rural areas see themselves as economic burdens on their families and are keen to enter productive work in the context of trade and then to marry. Ordinary girls need money for marriage, and a tension arises in the early secondary years between making money and continuing with schooling. Despite increased opportunities for women to obtain paid jobs during the boom period, most are in the lower paid sector. In the professional classes women have made considerable progress but this is partly due to the size of the bureaucracy and they are mainly appointed at the lower levels. As elsewhere there appears to be discrimination against women at the senior levels, though some women are in high positions as the tribal affiliation factor is also at work.

Promotions for women are mainly in "safe" areas such as education, rather than in parastatals or international organisations. We were constantly assured however, that the political will was there and our attention was drawn to the fourteen weeks' maternity leave and one hour's feeding time per day which are mandatory in Government occupations.

v. Religious

This is not a direct factor, but indirectly influential and generally supportive of the education of girls in both Christian and Islamic zones. Though historically interested in males, neither group has excluded girls. Some of the discrimination against girls in education in Muslim areas is however religiously legitimised by traditional men. The Catholic and Protestant traditions view schoolgirl pregnancies very differently, the former being much more supportive and realistic. It would appear that Cameroon society has expectations of the churches in respect of combating the significant moral decline of adolescents and young adults in which females tend to suffer and be inconvenienced to a greater degree than males.

Some of the indigenous religious rites do give some indication of the traditional importance of boys as opposed to girls: for example, unless a man has a son, his skull will not be exhumed and he will never become an ancestor.

vi. Legal

Although customary law gives almost all powers to the male, on paper there have been equal opportunities since Independence, but the various factors mentioned above have engendered different types of female disadvantage in respect of education.

On the issue of early marriage, which is still a significant constraint on girls' education, while the minimum age for the girl is 18, lawyers will agree to legalise the union at much younger ages (as low as 12) provided that both sets of parents are agreed. This is not uncommon, especially in rural areas, and is clearly a significant factor.

vii. Political/Administrative

The broad anglophone/francophone divide has been noted. As a result there are two schooling systems which feed into a single tertiary sector. Though the system is officially complete, there are certainly locational disparities that make for difficulties of access in some places. With the rapid increase in live births a thorough review of the accessibility and capacity of the primary sector would be helpful and illuminating. The anglophone west has been relatively neglected, but there has also been a policy of locating new schools in the Nigerian border region to stem the outflow of talent.

A Ministry of Women's Affairs has been created, and this is seen as a boost to female role perception and morale even though the budget is limited. Levels of local administration need a boost, in education as elsewhere. They are male dominated, and given the increasing number of qualified females, it would probably be beneficial to the administration of education and the confrontation of female disadvantage where it does exist to have more women in this field. The view that too much educational aid from overseas has gone into higher education was strongly voiced, with a call to concentrate more on the renewal of the primary and secondary sector and increasing their capacity to cope with the rapidly increasing numbers of clients. If, with economic decline, these sectors come under stress, especially in the rural regions, it will be the females who will lose out. The age of drop-out may fall. Aid agencies like ODA should place firm conditions on the targeting of the younger students. One exception to this might be an attempt to revive the Buea Campus of the University which has apparently been systematically neglected by the central administration.

viii. Educational

Many of the schools, particularly at the secondary level are fee-paying and this affects girls more than boys. There are still significant differences between the enrolment figures for boys and girls at all levels, particularly in rural areas and even more so in the northern regions. Even in primary schools, where girls' enrolment figures are the least different, female drop-out starts quite early and is very heavy at the end of the primary cycle. The lower socio-economic groups suffer particularly because these children tend to enrol later and to drop out earlier than others. The long school day, extending until 5.30 in francophone schools is another factor which militates against girls who are required to help at home and in the fields. There is very little daylight left after 5.30 and the long break in the middle of the day may be all taken in getting home to eat and back to school again.

Class-size which is the largest we saw in the survey, 70-90 pupils being quite common, is another worrying factor from the point of view of girls in particular. From what recent research has shown us about classroom interaction and gender, one can hypothesise that the larger the class, the less attention girls are going to receive.

The primary and secondary sectors are near universal, with the main problem being at secondary level in rural areas where insufficient boarding places are available. This affects girls more adversely than boys as hostel accommodation is crucial for them.

There is evidence of residual gender bias in the secondary curriculum with traditional options being on offer. This is a problem of structure as well as content.

The technical/vocational sector is very weak, traditional academic models remaining dominant.

The tertiary sector presents a problem for anglophones and for females in particular in that places are concentrated largely in Yaoundé, the Buea campus having been neglected. Though both languages are supposed to be available, in practice French predominates. There is a tendency it was said, for francophone males to offer assistance and accommodation, with pregnancy and drop-out from the university resulting for the girl. Another response to this francophone domination is to go to anglophone West African universities, which creates an anglophone brain drain. However, among those who come through to graduation an increasing proportion are female (perhaps mainly francophone), and operating across a wide range of subject areas including the so-called male fields such as engineering.

In the teaching profession, women tend to be concentrated on the younger pupils and in the urban areas. One reason for the over concentration of teachers in Yaoundé is that married women whose husbands are in government service are guaranteed jobs in the schools and colleges of the capital. As the schools are overstaffed, some teach only a few hours per week for a full salary. This rare case of female advantage in education derives from French colonial policy.

ix. Initiatives

A number of initiatives with some bearing on gender and education were identified, namely:

· various church schemes for young mothers to improve health/hygiene and family care generally;

· OIC (Buea) - an initiative funded from the parent organisation in the USA (Opportunities Industrialisation Centre), which is a vocational/technical enterprise for young persons of both sexes. There is no gender bias in respect of trades/skills learnt and the scheme appears to be highly successful in providing 'second chances' for young people.

· Institut Pédagogique Appliqué a Vocation Rurale - a ministry backed scheme with recognised examinations and certification.

· Centre National d'Education - designed to achieve harmony between the anglophone and francophone sectors of the system.

· Local Domestic Science/Handicraft Centres for Dropout Girls.

· Rural Community Development Centres mainly for the benefit of wives and mothers.

· Maisons de la Femme - under the auspices of the Ministry of Women's Affairs.

· A general willingness by the Ministry of Education to bend rules in favour of girls by waiving for example, the normal age of admission for entry to certain classes.

C. Recommendations

Our major recommendations (not necessarily in order of priority) would be:

i. Girls' enrolment in rural areas might be improved by a re-timing of the school day in francophone schools;

ii. that encouragement should be given to efficient NGOs to promote schemes to effect the progression of girls from primary to secondary schools.

iii. that support be considered for projects aiming to eradicate gender bias from primary and secondary text books and other material.

iv. that in situations of poverty and malnutrition, feeding schemes for primary and secondary pupils be considered for support;

v. there is a need for more secondary schools in certain rural locations with suitable accommodation for girls, and also for additional accommodation in some existing schools.

vi. other incentives such as a scholarship scheme for girls (cp. Asia Foundation Scheme in Bangladesh) would encourage secondary participation, increase primary enrolment in anticipation, delay the age of marriage and open better employment opportunities to girls;

vii. that the support recommended in (vi) above be targeted at rural areas in particular;

viii. that consideration be given to developing single sex secondary schools for girls in the northern zone;

ix. since the technical/vocational sector is particularly weak, and since in view of the shift in Cameroon's economic fortunes, training in this area may well become crucial to employment, support could well be offered in this case;

x. the OIC initiative in Buea could be examined with a view to using this model (or a modification) elsewhere in Cameroon;

xi. that family planning schemes be encouraged and aided to take special account of the educational needs of teenage mothers who wish to return to school;

xii. it would seem that some sort of health/sex education initiative for adolescent Cameroonians (to curb the rising rate of promiscuity as seen by parents) would assist the continuing education of girls;

xiii. there is untapped potential at the Buea campus in both physical and human terms and a good opportunity to attract anglophones who may well otherwise go to Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, or out of Africa altogether;

xiv. as in Bangladesh, there is a need to improve the level of educational policy implementation at the local level in Cameroon. Again this would involve the training of considerable numbers of personnel in systems of implementation and delivery. Their role in the implementation of policy would be a practical one of animation, advice and support rather than mere administration. The opportunity could be taken to train a significant number of women in this work;

xv. that support be considered for rationalising the provision of schooling in Yaoundé where rapid urbanisation may be creating increased complexity in patterns of demand;

xvi. that support to NGOs working with the education of rural women be considered;

xvii. that wherever possible, and especially in rural locations, an integrated approach in the fields of medical, educational and economic development be adopted;

xviii. that, again especially in rural communities, projects should be developed combining pre school initiatives with income generation and basic literacy and numeracy skills for rural women;

xix. that credible women's movements, with track records of support for women and girls in need, be identified and considered for aid;

xx. girls would also be helped by schemes in agricultural training which aimed at the modernisation of subsistence agriculture;

xxi. that efforts be made to raise the level of male awareness of the community and family economic benefits likely to arise from increased participation of women and girls in educational and income generation activity.