Abstract

Educators and teachers share a desire to promote inclusive education, and can came together, such as the current group of authors did, to educate themselves about current developments. This paper examines published research relevant to inclusive education in Cameroon to contribute to understandings of inclusive education in Africa. An extensive review of published and grey scholarly literature since 2002 yielded 22 documents. Analysis, framed around a human rights perspective, focused on two areas: the legal context for inclusive education; and the organizations providing inclusive education. Findings indicate that there is little protection of the rights of students in cameroon. This paper initiates a discourse into the strategies to increase awareness and promote change among teachers, principals, school administrators, parents, and other stakeholders in Cameroon, and concludes with cautious optimism that inclusion in schools in Cameroon is beginning to take place.

CHAPTER 1

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Education is a crucial and indispensable tool in the construction of viable and sustainable societies with outstanding democratic values. It inspires people and fortifies nations; it is a powerful counterbalance, offering opportunities for citizens to graduate themselves out of poverty. It is therefore a critical tool for the attainment of the development agenda of any nation and the world at large. In this light, scholars argue that education is a process whereby individuals acquire physical, intellectual and social capabilities required by the society in which they are born for daily functioning and national development.^[1] Education has both quantitative and qualitative sides. While the quantitative  side  refers  to  the  economic  dividends  that  ultimately  accrue  from  it  to individuals and  their countries  as a result of  increased earnings, the qualitative  aspect has to do with “values, culture and needs”^[2]. It is a life-long  individual  and  social  learning  progression  that  challenges  the  dominant ecological,  psychological,  economic  and  social  paradigms.  In  view  of  the  fact  that education  is a  process  that  needs to  be  sustained, its  practice in  any  nation is  largely influenced  by  public  policy.  An education  policy  is  therefore  a  public  policy  that enhances the educational process in any nation. Where policy is lacking, or where there exist unclear ones, educational development is likely to be directionless and marred by conflicts of interests and chaos. This work critically examines the laws protecting on education in  contemporary  Cameroon  with  particular  attention to  the issues  surrounding  what constitute  education  policy  in  the  country.  The study  recommends  some  important actions  that  need  to  be  taken  towards  the  development  of  a  more  valid  and comprehensive education policy for Cameroon.  

1.1Background 

Cameroon  is  a  nation  in  western  Africa  created  out  of  the  colonial  expeditions  of Germany, Britain and France. The country is bounded to the north by Lake Chad, and Chad and the Central African Republic to the  east. To the south, it  is bounded by  the Republics of the Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, and to the west by the Bight of Biafra (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean) and Federal Republic of Nigeria. It has the shape of an  elongated  triangle,  and  acts  as  a  bridge  between  West  Africa  and  Central  Africa. Cameroon lies between latitudes 1° and 13°N, and longitudes 8° and 17°E. The country has been  described as  “Africa in  miniature”  because it  exhibits all  major climates  and vegetation  of the  continent:  coast,  desert, mountains,  rainforest, and  savanna.^[3]  Cameroon is  a bilingual country with  English and French as its official languages. It has an estimated population of about 24 million people, distributed among 250 indigenous ethnic groups and is presently constituted into 10 administrative regions – eight French-speaking and two English-speaking. The country is a member of two of the world’s largest socio-cultural and linguistic communities – the Francophonie and the British Commonwealth. It operates within an economic and monetary zone of six member countries – the Economic Community of Central African States (CEMAC).   Being  a  former  French  and  British  colony,  Cameroon  runs  a  bicultural Francophone  and  Anglo-Saxon  educational  and  administrative  systems.  Cameroon represents one of the giants in primary, secondary and higher education in the CEMAC sub-region and Sub-Sahara Africa. It has one of the highest school attendance and literacy rates in the region. In 2007 the school attendance rate stood at 83.1 percent; adult literacy rate was 67.9 percent and a higher education participation rate of 7.2  percent (which is also one of the highest in Sub-Sahara Africa (Republic of Cameroon, 2010). Cameroon in the past years has continuously constituted an interesting case of a comparatively better educational system in Africa. The Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) of 2009 shows that the country was on the 12th position ahead of some African and Asian countries, which ordinarily may be seen as being ahead. The education sector comprises four ministerial departments: Ministry of Basic Education (charged with nursery and primary education), Ministry of Secondary Education (charged with general and technical education as well as training of primary school teachers), Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training (charged  with  post  primary  education  and  technical  and  vocational  training  in  the informal  sector)  and  Ministry  of  Higher  Education  (charge  with  post-secondary  and higher  education  and  training,  including  of  teachers  of  secondary  education).  Total spending on education in the country in proportion to the national budget over the past two  decades  has  been  slightly  below  the  Sub-Sahara  African  average of  16.6  percent recorded in 2013. It shrank from 14.6 percent of the national budget in 2014 to 12.5 percent in  2016; far  below  the  20  percent  Education  Sector  Strategy  planned  spending  mark.^[4]

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There’s a good legal framework for the protection of the right to education and the rights of students of higher education in Cameroon. However, over the years this right has been grossly violated, For instance in 2016 with the upsurge of the Anglophone crises, military personnel broke into the hostels of students of molyko neighborhood and what followed was torture and subsequent arbitrary arrests. This is why this researcher has embarked on this research to find out the root causes of this numerous violations and to make policy recommendations that can address the issues raised.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This research seeks to accomplish the following questions

• MAIN RESEARCH QUESTION

Is the legal framework for the protection of students’ rights in Cameroon effective?

• SPECIFIC RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Is there any legal and institutional framework for the protection of the rights of students of higher education in Cameroon?
• How effective are those laws and institutions?
• (4) Are there any policy recommendations that can be made to address the issues raised?
  • AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This study seeks to answer the following objectives

MAIN RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

The aim of this research is to examine legal and institutional framework for the protection of the rights of students of higher education in Cameroon.

1.4.2 SPECIFIC RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The specific objectives of the work are;

• To examine the Legal and institutional framework for the protection of the rights of students of higher education in Cameroon.
• To assess the effectiveness of the legal and institutional framework for the protection of the rights of students of higher education in Cameroon
• To propose policy recommendations to address the issues raised.