The development of education in the Anglophone provinces of Cameroon during British administration 1919-1960

MacOjong, Tabot Timothy (1980) The development of education in the Anglophone provinces of Cameroon during British administration 1919-1960. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore and assess the development of education in the Anglophone Provinces of Cameroon, during British Administration under the League of Nations Mandate and the United Nations Trusteeship, 1919 to 1960. The introductory Chapter I provides an overview, nature, organisation and methodology of the study. In Chapter II, a historical background of the beginning of westernisation of the Cameroons is provided; it covers the period beginning with the arrival of European traders and missionaries to the end of German Administration in 1918. Although British Administration was only introduced in 1919, British influence, through its anti-slave trade activities at the Atlantic coast, the widespread use of "pidgin” English and the pro-British disposition of the natives was omnipresent and potent, between 1844 and 1918. The mistake of Germany in 1914-18 ultimately gave to Britain a slice of the territory which had been a bone of contention. Consequently, German educational system was replaced by that of the British. Chapter III provides a geographical and cultural framework within which the new system began operating in 1922. Throughout the text, these factors are shown to have impinged on the expansion and extension of education. -- In Chapter IV, the examination of the introduction of British colonial education policy is shown to have emerged only as a response to the recommendations from the studies of the state of education in West Africa by the Phelps-Stokes Commission in 1920-21. Although the Cameroon Province was not a British colony, the recommendations applied to it through its joint administration with Nigeria. Chapter V surveys the development of educational institutions. -- The educational system developed in the territory was a hybrid of government and voluntary agency schools, with the Missionary Societies bearing a greater burden; the same partnership also existed with regard to teacher training institutions, examined in Chapter VI. The status of the teacher, except for the government teacher, was synonymous with penury and poverty. In Chapter VII, the curriculum and methods of teaching in these schools are examined. As revealed in it, the primary school curriculum was influenced by the philosophy of education for the Negroes in the South of the United States, that of teacher training institution was determined largely by the primary school curriculum, and that of the secondary and the trade school was determined by School Certificate examinations of London and Cambridge Universities and the London City and Guilds Examinations respectively. -- The examination of educational finance in Chapter VIII shows the main sources to have been government grants-in-aid, school fees and education rates and contributions from the home boards of Missionary Societies. In mass and cultural education, Chapter IX reveals that it lagged behind formal education except in the plantations of the Cameroons Development Corporation. Outside the C.D.C. plantations, literacy was characterised by laissez-faire. There was emphasis on community, leadership and citizenship education. Chapter X is a summary and conclusion of the study. The development of education in the Anglophone Provinces during British Administration was largely determined by the mandate and trusteeship system of the League of Nations and the United Nations; it was overshadowed by the joint administration with Nigeria. The relative balance in the lopsided educational development between Nigeria and the Southern Cameroons, where a replica of the British education system was firmly established by 1960, was ensured by the Missionary Societies.

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