This document summarizes a study on school performance, literacy rates, and socioeconomic development in Cameroon. It provides background on Cameroon's education system, methodology used in the study, key findings, and conclusions. The study examined factors influencing school choice, literacy levels of primary students, and different teaching approaches used. It found proximity was a major factor in school choice, and government and private mission schools primarily used new pedagogical approaches focused on the individual child compared to other school types. The study aimed to evaluate how education impacts future opportunities and development.

1. ERNWACA INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE
SCHOOL PERFORMANCE, LITERACY RATE AND
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN
CAMEROON
Dr.Tohnain Nobert and
Pr. Tamajong Elizabeth

2. PLAN
• - Introduction
• methodology
• Summary findings
• Conclusion

3. Introduction
• Cameroon is known for having one of the best educational
systems in Africa where primary school is free and
obligatory.
• About 70 % of all children in ages between 6-12 years go to
school. Adult literacy rate is 67.9 %.
• In the southern regions of the country almost all children
of primary-school age are enrolled in classes. However, in
the north, registration is low.
• There are two separate sub-systems of education in
Cameroon-the English and the French sub-systems.
• Lay private and religious private schools are an important
part of the education system.
• The country equally has public and private institutions for
the training of teachers for the primary school system.

4. Introduction Cont.
• Basic education covers a period of 08 years comprising
2 years in kindergarten and 6 years in the primary. The
normal length of the primary cycle alone is six years.
The legal age of admission to this level of education is
5 years. The certificate for the end of cycle is the CEP
(certificate d’étude primaire) for the Francophone
subsystem and the FSLC (first school leaving
certificate) for the Anglophone subsystem. Our study
covers pupils of the upper primary that is, classes 5
and 6. This is because pupils at this level are better
positioned to say why they go to school and why they
opt for a particular career.

5. • The 1995National forum on Education in
Cameroon identified several lapses in the
primary school system and hence, sought to
give a new vision to the entire system. This
determination of the government to
redynamise the system led to the
promulgation of a law on educational
orientation in 1998. Since then the new
teaching programs have been introduced in
the teacher training colleges.

6. • This law proposes a new vision for the training of
children. The training needs to take care of their
- intellectual
- Physical
- Civic and moral welfare
With the view to have them better integrated into the
society, of course taking into consideration the
economic, socio-cultural and political factors. Hence,
new pedagogic approaches were born e.g, the NPA
(tuned to the needs of the individual children.
• Our study looks at the level of LITERACY amongst
pupils in primary schools in Cameroon and ascertain
whether the level reflects these new orientations

7. Methodology
• The research methodology adopted for this
study was the survey design.
• Two approaches were used for the study: the
qualitative and the quantitative approaches.
• In the qualitative approach data were
collected through interviews, observations
and focus group discussions while for the
quantitative approach questionnaires were
used.

8. Sample characteristics
• The study carried out in five of the ten regions in Cameroon.
• The choice of these regions based on agro-ecological characteristics
of each region which makes them theoretically adapted to the
educational system.
• From the agro-ecological resemblance, the following localities were
identified: the Northwest and the West regions with same culture
and social set-up.
• The almost identical nature of the northern region of the country
led to the choice of Maroua as a site for the region.
• The East region was chosen as one of the study sites to represent
the Centre, the South and the East regions.
• The Littoral and the Southwest regions with several similarities ,led
to the choice of the Southwest region as another study locality.
• Its choice was equally based on its linguistic difference with the
Littoral which has a significant impact on the quality of teaching
and learning.

9. The Sampling Unit
• To better understand this question on education, only the
primary schools from rural and urban areas in each region
were retained as a unit of investigation. In each school,
two types of units were observed:
• pupils
• Teachers.
• The type of schools selected were, the public (government
owned) schools, lay private schools and private missionary
schools.
• A total of 284 pupils made up the sample with a continuous
variable which is the mark obtained for each subject later
characterized by six nominal variables notably: type of
school, region, sex, the mark, locality and the subject. For
the teachers, 140 of them were questioned.

10. Data analysis
• Cross tabulations, percentages and correlation
coefficients are used for statistical analysis. Two
key assumptions were used during the analysis
to verify whether to reject or accept them
according to proofs obtained from the sample.
During the execution of our hypothesis test, the
critical threshold (risk of wrongly rejecting the
hypothesis) was set at 5%. So only a 5%
possibility of wrongly rejecting the original
hypothesis was considered. The risk of wrongly
rejecting our hypothesis is quite small we confirm
(approve) the results provided by these tests.

11. Results and Analysis
• Our study aimed at evaluating the performance of
pupils in the final year of their basic education.
• We equally needed to know why pupils are registered
in their respective schools.
• This is especially because the choice of schools is
determined by social and economic factors even
though the incidence of poverty equally plays a role.
Enrolment ratios for a society which depends on the
community’s economic level is a direct measure of it
future man-power. Some specific data came from
secondary sources as shown

12. Reason for the choice of establishment
and school population
Reason for the choice
Region
Seriousness Good results Low cost Proximity Easy
admission
East 10.7 % 11.1 % 25.5 % 47.1 % 4.7 %
Far North 3.2 % 8.8 % 6.2 % 76.2 % 3.2 %
Littoral 22.4 % 9.9 % 22.9 % 33.2 % 6.0 %
Northwest 10.1 % 12.7 % 28.7 % 41.2 % 1.5 %
Southwest 16.6 % 9.8 % 21.9 % 45.8 % 4.9 %
Living standards
Poor 7.5 % 6.1 % 19.2 % 61.4 % 2.8 %
Non poor 17.7 % 14.7 % 20.7 % 36.0 % 6.0 %
Area of Residence
Urban 20.9 % 17.7 % 23.6 % 25.5 % 7.3 %
Rural 8.9 % 7.1 % 17.8 % 59.6 % 3.1 %

13. • The quest for education has given rise to the
proliferation of several educational
establishments. Uncontrolled creation of
schools give little room for quality assurance.
Children who go through their education
process still roam the streets as if they have
never been to school.
• Hence, difficult to distinguish between
dropouts and those who effectively went
through the system. Acute lack of teachers
and basic infrastructure eg in the rural areas.

14. • Our study reveals that, only parents from the
littoral region of the country (22.4 %) consider
seriousness in the schools as a criterion for the
admission of their children.
• About 28.7 % of the parents who come from
the Northwest region of the country register
their children in schools depending on the cost
of the education offer. In the Southwest region,
45 % of the parents send their children to
school depending on the school proximity to
the home.

15. • We consider the search for educational
establishment important in this study because
the type of education that can lead to an
appropriate socioeconomic integration of the
learner needs to be an activity which aims at
practical results especially in a system where
professionalization is valued. Hence in our
study we define education as an activity which
aims at practical results in contrast with
activities which aim at theoretical results
(Schofield, 1972:33).

16. • In our central preoccupation we are stating
that most of those referred to as dropouts are
not necessarily citizens who left schooling
before the final year of the course. The quality
of education received does not distinguish
dropouts from graduates especially at the basic
level.
• To show the link between education and the
future activity that learners could carry out, we
had to assess the academic level of the pupils
with the marks obtained as a variable.

17. • That is why each pupil in the sample was
subjected to write one and only one subject or
discipline selected from (grammar, reading
comprehension and mathematics).
• We assume that the ability to assimilate what
is being taught in these disciplines could
adequately indicate their level of
understanding and hence, what they are able
to do in future.

18. • This means that the mark of the pupil on a
single subject is indicative of the academic
position that the pupil would have had if it
were another subject.
• Hence, the pupil's academic position is
indicative of his/her overall level and quality
of education received by the latter in the
overall program.

19. Educational approaches
This study looks at some of the benefits of
primary schooling in the perspective of future
benefits for the learners as well as the the
different approaches employed in the learning
process which can produce dropouts or useful
citizens for national development.
For better output two different approaches are
used in Cameroon as shown on the table
below.

20. Different Approaches Used in Schools
TYPE OF SCHOOL NPA (NEW PEDAGOGIC
APPROACH)
GROUP CENTRED
APPROACH (GCA)
No RESPONSE
Islamic school 33,30% 33,30% 33,30%
Government 89,30% 5,40% 3,60%
Lay Private 76,70% 23,30% 0,00%
Private Mission 88,90% 5,60% 0,00%

21. • In the Cameroon education system, the
approach used in the basic education was the
traditional one in which the teachers had to
just lecture theoretically without being
interested on the pupils understanding of the
lectures. Later on this approach was
transformed to the new pedagogic approach
in which the child initiates the learning
process. Now we are at the Child centred
approach or the approach by competence.

22. • These approaches are not used with the same intensity in the different
types of schools referred to under our study. For instance:
• - the new pedagogic approach is mostly used in the government and
private mission schools;
• - The Islamic schools use both the new pedagogic approaches and the
group centered approach.
• Each of the approaches has a differential impact on the educational
output.
• - Teachers (66.7 %), with the grade I certificate as the highest
professional qualification are found mostly in Islamic schools while other
type of schools have teachers with lower qualifications.
• - Most of the teachers in private mission schools are teaching with the
grade II and grade III certificates. Those with the highest professional
experience (16-21) years in service are found in Islamic and government
schools. For all the schools, children are very active during their lessons
even though in terms of accessibility, only the government, the Islamic
and lay private schools are very accessible to pupils. Despite the use of
these approaches, dropouts are mostly produced by government owned
schools with well trained instructors.

23. • The smaller p-value at 05 % significant level indicates
that there is a relationship between pupils’
performance in the sample subjects (Mathematics)
and the region where they are found. Besides, pupils’
performance in each subject equally depends on
factors related to pedagogic approaches, available
didactic material and the experience of the teachers. In
each region even with trained teachers, children’s level
of assimilation of lessons is highly related to available
teaching material such as books and also to where the
schools are situated. For instance, schools situated in
market or commercial centers do not have the same
performance as those in rural or remote areas.

24. Pupils’ Participation in lessons
Type of School Participation of pupils in lessons
Very actiive Active Not active
Islamic school 12,10% 69,70% 12,10%
Government 33,30% 66,70% 0,00%
Lay Private 17,90% 64,30% 12,50%
Private Mission 43,30% 53,30% 3,30%

25. • For the Islamic schools, better results are produced when the
Group Centred Approach is used. If more dropouts are produced by
schools where appropriate pedagogic approaches are used, it is
simply because the system of evaluation is different. For instance,
promotion from one class to the other in government owned
schools does not always respect appropriate criteria. Our study
reveals that most of the learners (66 %) promoted to higher classes
do not merit promotion. As one of our respondents stated “it is not
acceptable to frustrate children by insisting that they should repeat
a class. Even if they do not have the required average for
promotion, they should go to the next class because as parents we
can contribute by looking for home teachers to teach what the child
could not understand in school (a respondent from the Southwest
region of the country)”. This is a fundamental problem because not
every parent is able to afford for a home teacher and even so, some
of these home teachers are not efficient and hence cannot train the
children adequately.

26. • To evaluate teachers effectiveness in the teaching
process, relevant variables were retained for analysis.
These variables were used to study the profile of the
teachers in order to show how it has an impact on
learning and teaching process. These composite
variables include:
• - The number of classes taught;
• - The number of hours per week;
• - Work experience;
• - The academic degree and professional certificate
• Nevertheless, the type of school where the teacher
teaches as well as his/her religion and the area where
the school is found are equally important
determinants.

27. Number of classes taught
Type of school Number of classes taught
1 2 3 More than 3
classes
Islamic 7.46 % 7.46 % 0 0
Public 32.09 % 4.48 % 7.46 % 4.48 %
Lay Private 8.21 % 67.10 % 4.48 % 3.73 %
Private Mission 10.45 % 14.93 % 14.93% 0

28. • The number of classes handled during the academic year
has an influence on the teaching process as well as on the
learning process for the pupils. Results from our results the
number of classes taught increases as the number of
teachers decreases. In schools where there are more
teachers, 67.1 % of them teach two classes.
• Learner-teacher ratios especially in disadvantaged regions
are often characterized by higher numbers of learners per
teacher, which makes it extremely difficult to provide
quality education.
• The needs of each individual learner in overcrowded
classrooms are hard to achieve in this situation. As a result,
the quality of education is being lowered and the learning
environment is negatively affected (Amukugo, 1993).
• What we can say about this variable is that teachers have
many hours to cover during the weekly schedule with 75%
having between 21 and 40 hours of teaching per week.

29. Conclusion
• Socio economic integration and development could be achieved
strategies are elaborated to promote the performance rate at the
primary school level. For instance, improvements could follow if
new pedagogic approaches especially those based on local realities
are adopted. The application of new pedagogical approach (89.3 %)
government schools could be used as an example to oriented policy
decisions. From the results of this study, the fact that even with
trained teachers, children’s level of assimilation of lessons is highly
related to available teaching material such as books could be used
by education stake holders to restrict frequent changes on the book
list and other didactic material used in schools. Hence the
elimination or reduction of school dropouts could be done through
the adjustment of approaches used in teaching and in the provision
of school needs.