Evaluation of the sustainability of the support to primary education project in Cameroon

The bulk of the report discusses the impact of SPE's termination and the subsequent closure of the TTCs. Despite the Government of Cameroon (GOC)'s acceptance of USAID proposals to scale back SPE, the project was terminated in 1/89, and at the end of the 1989-90 academic year the GOC closed all public TTCs for 5 years. During this period, many teachers in the northern region were reassigned to secondary schools in the southern Francophone region. Caretaking at the TTCs was also a problem, with vandalism becoming increasingly routine. The closure of the TTCs permitted the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) to hire unqualified teachers at about half the salary paid to qualified teachers. Parents became increasingly dissatisfied, and enrollments, especially in primary schools, began to drop, especially in the northern provinces -- the region in Cameroon that has historically been the furthest behind. The TTC closure decision is one in a chain of events that has wreaked havoc on Cameroon's primary education system. Other causes include rampant corruption and a dwindling pool of qualified teachers. It is estimated that at least 70% of primary school teachers are unqualified, and that there is a need for at least 15,000 qualified primary school teachers throughout the country. The lack of teachers in rural areas, especially in the northern region, is striking, and it is not unusual to have student-teacher ratios of 175:1 in rural primary schools. Textbooks and classroom teaching materials are almost nonexistent, and the physical condition of the schools is often a threat to the well-being of the children. It will be extremely difficult to recover from the debacle caused by the GOC's crippling of the primary school system, as evidenced by recent figures of enrollment ratios in SPE provinces and the significant erosion in the quality of education -- a fact that Cameroonian educators are constantly emphasizing. Some TTCs began to reopen in 9/95, but MINEDUC now requires students to pay for their schooling and find their own teaching jobs upon graduation, and has apparently provided school officials no help or authority regarding recruitment and hiring of new teachers. Not one teacher graduating from the TTCs in Bamenda (Anglophone zone) or Nagaoundere (northern region) was hired to teach. The private education sector also continues to be seriously hurt by this GOC practice. Given the deterioration of the primary school system between 1990 and 1995, educators in the SPE provinces greatly desire to revitalize the project, which is more needed today than when it was launched in 1984. SPE has the advantage of a trained cadre of Cameroonians available to participate in its implementation and is supported by significant Cameroon-specific project materials at the ready. Further, despite the 5-year shut-down, the project TTCs are now operational despite the unrepaired property damage. Most of the TTCs are currently attempting to enroll the maximum number of students, about 300 each, but most lack sufficient faculty and student accommodations. Each TTC in the project's provinces lacks about one-third of the approved teacher-staffing pattern. In other words, even though the TTCs are open again, they are not receiving the financial support they are entitled to by MINEDUC's own standards. On the positive side, a considerable number of SPE's counterparts, some of whom were TTC teachers and administrators during SPE, remain at the training colleges, some in very important positions. A significantly larger proportion of inspectors who worked with SPE remain in the project's provinces. And since the TTCs reopened, the number of inspectors greatly increased because of the government's decision to assign inspectors to the arrondissement (subdivisional) level. Even delegates who had no former connection to SPE expressed support for the project and a strong desire for its return. Also, all project TTCs are being directed by Cameroonian counterparts who had worked with SPE prior to termination, and who remain fully committed to its goals, processes, and practices. Finally, the GOC is now committed to promote decentralization, for which SPE could serve as a model. Includes lessons learned and suggestions for reinforcement of SPE sustainability.