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

Abstract

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.

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