President Paul Biya in the Youth Day address to the nation on February 10, 2000 declared that primary education in government schools was henceforth to be free in Cameroon. The country’s 1996 revised Constitution provides that, “Primary education shall be obligatory”. Paul Biya by the free primary education policy, wanted Cameroon to meet the second Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education by the year 2015.
Ten years after the Head of State’s policy and four years to the envisaged time for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, government has evaluated the level of implementation of the policy and hitches to be cleared. It was for this reason that the February 2011 cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister, Head of Philemon Yang on Wednesday, February 23, was partly devoted to assessing the level of the implementation of the policy on free primary education. The Minister of Basic Education, Youssouf Adidja Alim told members of government in the cabinet meeting that the implementation of the policy of free primary education in government schools was evident mainly in the suppression of fees payable. The move however, has not completely eliminated spending as Parent Teachers Associations (PTA) in some schools have decided on levies per pupil to complement government’s efforts in providing school needs, teachers and infrastructure.
Government on its part, has been granting teaching aids to teachers through the supply of teaching kits or minimum package which cost FCFA 20 billion in the last ten years. “Infrastructure development cost FCFA 95 billion in the last ten years, with 1,881 nursery schools and 3,567 primary schools created and made functional”, the press release from the cabinet meeting stated. When President Biya decided on the policy of free primary education in government schools, government had virtually stopped recruiting teachers. However, between 2007 and 2010, government recruited 37,200 Grade I Teachers. The North, Far North, Adamawa and East Regions with hitherto low levels of school enrolment rate are considered priority education zones. Most of the teachers recruited are sent to these zones and the World Food Programme has also been giving food incentives to encourage pupils in the zones go to school. Government has also been granting subsidies to private primary education which accounts for 23 per cent of total enrolment.
The ongoing decentralisation process whose effective implementation phase is in the second year, has come to strengthen government’s strive to achieve universal free education. Following the 2004 Decentralisation laws, the Basic Education Ministry has to devolve to Councils powers and accompanying resources to: recruit and manage back-up staff for primary and nursery schools; build, equip, tender and maintain schools and pre-school establishments; and participate in the procurement of school supplies and equipment. In 2010, the Ministry devolved powers and accompanying resources to Councils amounting to FCFA 15,448,464,100. To ensure efficiency in decentralisation, the Prime Minister last February 23 instructed the Minister of Basic Education to liaise with the Minister of State in charge of Decentralisation to ensure that councils distribute textbooks and teaching aids on time. He equally instructed the Basic Education Minister to strengthen controls and punish head teachers who institute and charge arbitrary fees.
