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Greener Journal of Education and
Training Studies Vol. 5(1), pp. 11-23, 2019 ISSN: 2354-225X Copyright ©2019, the copyright of this
article is retained by the author(s) DOI Link: http://doi.org/10.15580/GJETS.2019.1.051319085
http://gjournals.org/GJETS |
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Conservative
and Evolutionary Trends in the Implementation Narratives on the Harmonization
Policy in Cameroon Education System
Department
of Curriculum Studies and Teaching, Faculty of Education, University of Buea
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ARTICLE INFO |
ABSTRACT |
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Article No.: 051319085 Type: Review DOI: 10.15580/GJETS.2019.1.051319085 |
It is generally agreed that a curriculum
however well designed must be implemented throughout a centralized school
system if it is to make any impact or if students are to attend its goals
and objectives. In the Cameroon Educational system, the Government has
enacted several policies beginning with the policy of harmonization in 1963,
a few years after she became independent. These policies which are
guidelines for educational practices include but are not limited to;
harmonization, bilingualism, multilingualism and ruralization.
The importance of these policy issues had been earlier stated in the Conferences
of Education in Africa which started with the Addis Ababa Conference of
1961, reiterated in the National Education Law of 1998, the Sector Wide
Approach of 2006 and most recently in the Growth and Employment Strategic
Plan for 2010-2020 and the vision 2035. In order to implement the above
curriculum policies, many principles and actors must be involved. Looking at
the principles of curriculum implementation, Fullan
(2007) contends that one of the most important issues is that implementation
is a process not an event. It occurs gradually overtime during which
characteristics of the change, school system, and external factors must be
continuously addressed. It is in this context that this paper seeks to find
the extent to which Cameroon’s Curriculum policy of Harmonization has been
implemented in schools by all concerned, from the period of 1961 to 2015. It
will also look at how these efforts have affected teaching and learning in
the school system. |
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Submitted: 13/05/2019 Accepted: 17/05/2019 Published: |
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*Corresponding Author Yaro Loveline
(PhD) E-mail: Lyulay2000@
gmail. com |
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Keywords: |
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INTRODUCTION
According to the conference of ministers of
Education of the African Union held on August 2007 in South Africa,
harmonization is a process of ensuring articulation, both horizontal and
vertical between programmes. Harmonization also entails establishing benchmarks
for curricula, programme delivery and equivalences for the same course.
In Cameroon, harmonization meant selecting
educational practices from the French Cameroon and British Cameroon inherited
education systems at independence and blending them with Cameroon post-colonial
objectives in order to create one system suitable to Cameroon’s post-colonial
needs. Stated in Law No. 63/DF/13of 19/6/63 harmonization was the first
curriculum policy enacted in Cameroon after independence and
reunification.
Theoretical approach
to Trends in Implementation of Harmonization
In curriculum, theories are used to provide
explanations for practice that help to facilitate the creation and
implementation of the curriculum. This study discusses the conservative and
evolutionary theories as an approach to provide an understanding of trends in
the implementation of the Curriculum policy of Harmonization in Cameroon
education system.
Propounded by Edmund Burke, conservatism is a
political ideology that is concerned with protecting the status-quo of a state.
According to O’Hara (2011) conservatism is a survey that captures the essence
of a creed that so often decries change but has proven remarkably adept at surviving
it. Conservatists are often engaged with the politics
of nostalgia (Jan-Werner Muller, 2006). They are less interested in putting
forth a political doctrine than in expressing a disposition. O’Hara (2011)
argues that, conservatism is a nostalgic glance backwards that allows
conservatives to see more clearly. Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski and Sulloway (2003)
also contend that conservatives are less concerned with equality, more
comfortable in maintaining the status-quo, more likely to show favouritism for
high status or advantaged groups over low status or disadvantaged groups to the
extent that their system justifying attitudes are characterized by resistance
to change and tolerance for inequality.
Using a multi-dimensional approach to
understanding conservatism, Muller (2006) proposed four dimensions of
conservatism which he termed sociological, methodological, dispositional and
philosophical conservatism.
Conservatism from a sociological dimension is
simply the ideology or the specific political programme of a particular social
group trying to hold onto its privileges. He contends that this kind of
conservatism originates from the period in history when the European
aristocracy started defending itself against the rising bourgeoisie and
subsequently against mass democracy. He further argues that, the precondition
for sociological conservatism is some distinct threat to an existing social
order. It is about, an active defence; a resistance to change that threatens an
existing status-quo.
The second dimension is the methodological
conservatism also known as prudential particularism. It is a claim about the
nature and the process of change. While not suggesting that they ought to be no
change at all or a commitment in favour of pure “stationariness”
or a highly selective commitment to “Yell Stop” (Muller, 2006, P. 362),
methodological conservatism, argues that reforms are necessary from time to
time, but they ought to work carefully or even cautiously to improve what is
already there. This means that change should be incremental and should take
place in steps. Burke (1993) admits that “a state without the means of some
change is without the means of its conservation (P. 21). It is about a
carefully managed process of change, or put differently of rendering safe the
change that is desirable and in many cases inevitable.
The third dimension of conservatism as seen
by Muller is the dispositional or aesthetic conservatism. He holds that central
to this dimension are two presumptions; on the one hand is the presumption in
favour of the past or sometimes even a peculiar vision of the present, and on
the other hand a presumption in favour of a particular or the concrete. These
dispositions give rise to stances of nostalgia. In describing the dispositional
conservatism, Oakeshott (1991) pointed out that:
to be conservative,
then is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the
untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the
unbounded, the limited to the near to the distant, the sufficient to the
superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss
(P. 408).
The
fourth dimension according to Muller (2006) is the philosophical. Also called
the anthropological, this stance implies a commitment to realizing a set of
substantive values, irrespective of whether these values are already
instantiated in the present. This means that for philosophical conservatives,
the primary question is not about what the past suggests, or how or by which
proven method, these values should be implemented. The question deals with what
sets of values should be considered. They are primarily interested in the
importance of hierarchical relationships, or some more or less naturalized
conception of inequality.
Burke (1955) examined the relationship
between conservationism and schooling in terms of the role of the school, the
nature of the curriculum, and the role of the teacher. The school, in the
conservative ideology, is a repository of cultural values. It is an agency for
transmitting the cultural heritage and values from the mature to the culturally
immature, thus preserving them for future generations. The school’s role is to
unite the individual with the heritage and to instil a sense of belonging to
the group whose traditions are manifested in the institution. In addition to
its general role as an agency for transmitting and perpetuating the cultural
heritage, the school also aids other institutions by identifying the future
elite and providing the education appropriate to its destiny as a leadership
group. The education of leadership elite can take place either through special
schools established solely for the task, or by tracking or streaming, which
places those who display leadership potential in special classes within a comprehensive
setting. Whatever the mode, there is an appropriate preparation for the elite.
It should be noted that this leadership elite is to exhibit both character and
intellectual acumen.
For conservatives, the curriculum transmits
the general culture to all and also provides appropriate education to the
various straits of the society. It includes the generally accepted basic skills
found in most school programmes – reading, writing and arithmetic. In addition,
loyalty to and membership in the community, often the nation-state is developed
by a selective use of the literature to exemplify significant cultural themes.
History, too, is a core subject for providing a perspective into the evolution
of the culture and its heritage. Fine arts, music, and dance are also used to
expose students to the cultural heritage. Defined and prescribed cultural
values are used to shape behaviour or character to conform to traditional norms
or to national character. Whatever possible, conservatives prefer to integrate
character formation or development within a religious context.
Secondary and higher education continues to
cultivate intellectual discipline through the study of subjects such as the
native language, classical and foreign languages, mathematics, history, literature
and science. Often, conservative educators identify a core of prescribed
studies designed for all students to ensure the uniform transmittal of the
cultural heritage.
The teacher in the Conservative educational
setting is an agent of transmitting the cultural heritage to children and youth
so that they can incorporate it into their intellectual outlooks and
characters. Such teachers should be people who cherish the cultural heritage,
who know it well and who reflect in their personalities and behaviour the
culture’s traditional values. Like the idealist teacher, they are character
models that students can imitate. While they may use educational technology to
transmit the tradition more effectively, conservative teachers are neither
agents seeking to change or reconstruct society, nor do such teachers encourage
cultural alternatives and diversity. In a world that has grown increasingly
unstable because of social and technological change, incessant mobility and
moral relativism, conservative teachers use the school as a stabilizing agency.
Their task is to maintain the cultural heritage as a repository of the enduring
achievements of the human race by introducing it to the young so that they can
absorb it and perpetuate it.
Stressing continuity rather than change,
conservatives emphasize the power of the cultural tradition to shape knowledge,
character and values. Seeing human beings as unequal in abilities and capacity,
conservatism views the good society as one that is organized hierarchically.
Education, based on the conservative ideology, is primarily a process of
cultural transmission and preservation. Indeed, it is part of the cultural
continuum that exists between the generations.
Applied to this study, conservative
curriculum policy is resistance to change in curriculum practice. Those who
support it are nostalgic about the colonial curriculum and seek to maintain it,
sometimes for what they refer to as maintaining standards.
Evolution
refers to a slow progress; a gradual incremental and cumulative progress which
is a counterpoint to revolution. It can refer to maturation and movement
towards ‘advancement’ or to ‘directionless movement’ in which we make no
reference to the ‘the idea of progress’ without considering the possibility of
regress (Sementelli, 2007.pp 743–5; Steinmo, 2010. p 20). It can refer to natural selection,
describing the ‘blind’ adaptation by species to their environment, artificial
selection, describing the ability of ‘entrepreneurs’ to learn and innovate as they
adapt to their environment, or a process in which actors adapt to and help
create their environment (Kerr, 2002. p. 336; 2003. p. 120, Kay, 2003. p. 108,
Room, 2012). It can describe ‘pure mutations’, perhaps equivalent to major
policy change, or ‘phyletic transformations’, equivalent to incremental change
(Durant and Diehl, 1989 p. 195). It can be used as a metaphor or a description
of reality (Curry, 2003; Kay, 2003. pp. 105, 119, 125; Lewis and Steinmo, 2008.p 33). Finally, it can refer to the role of
individuals, the population as a whole and/or the role of its environment.
Evolution
in policy studies is used frequently to describe policy change. Lewis and Steinmo,
(2010) portray ‘evolutionary theory’ as
the solution to a wide range of unresolved debates on endogenous and exogenous
change, the nature of institutions, rational choice and norms, and structure
and agency. The
notion of evolution came into social science from Charles Darwin’s (1809 -1882)
theory of biological evolution which stated that species of organisms have
evolved from simpler organisms through the process of variation, and natural
selection.
Proposed by August Compte
(1798-1857), Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) and Spencer (1820-1903), the basic
assumption of this theory is that change is a characteristic feature of human
society, the present observed condition of the society presumed to be the
result of change in the past. It also holds that change results from operations
of forces within the society or culture. Cairney
(2013) suggests that evolution in public policy could be used to describe the
following processes:
• The cumulative, long-term development of
policy solutions.
• Major disruptions in the way that policy
makers think about, and try to solve, policy problems.
• The maintenance or radical reform of
policy-making institutions.
• Emergent behaviour within complex systems.
• The trial-and-error strategies adopted by
actors, such as policy entrepreneurs, when adapting to their environment.
• The coming together of multiple factors to
create the conditions for major policy change.
Evolutionary theories are also based on the
assumption that society gradually change from simple beginnings into even more
complex forms. According to the evolutionary theorists, social change means
progress towards something better. They see change as positive and beneficial.
To them the evolutionary process implied that societies would necessarily reach
new and higher levels of civilization. Mondal Puja in
an article published on http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com accessed on
23/12/2015, summarized the following assumptions of evolutionary theory.
·
That change is inevitable and natural
·
That change is gradual and continuous
·
That change is sequential and in certain stages
·
That all successive stages of change, are higher over
preceding stages, thus evolution is progressive
·
That forces of change are inherent in the object
·
That stages of change are non-reversible
·
That the direction of change is from simple to
complex, from homogeneity to heterogeneity, from undifferentiated to the
differentiated in form and function.
·
That all societies pass through same stages of
development.
According
to Kingdon (1984, 1995), the policy process consists
of three separate streams – problems (agenda setting), policies (ideas or
solutions) and politics (receptivity to solutions) – and major policy change
may only occur when they come together during a brief ‘window of opportunity’.
The problem stream provides the potential for major policy-making disruptions and
non-incremental change when there are lurches of attention, often caused by a
combination of novelty (including ‘focusing events’) and latent interest (Kingdon, 1984. p 103; Durant and Diehl, 1989; Birkland, 1997; Cairney, 2012.
pp.187–8, 234; Cairney et al, 2012.p. 222). This
shift of attention is a necessary but insufficient condition for major change.
Change also requires that a feasible policy solution exists – and solutions
cannot be produced at short notice. They often develop over years or decades.
To
deal with this disconnect between attention and the time it takes to produce
solutions, communities of policy specialists develop proposals in anticipation
of problems (Kingdon, 1984, pp
122–4). Kingdon describes the time and effort it
takes for feasible policy solutions to develop; they whirl around in the
‘policy primeval soup’, proposed by one actor then ‘softened up’ by many
participants to ‘recombine familiar elements’ and change their ‘technical
feasibility’, ‘value acceptability’ or anticipated costs (1984: 138–46; 1995:
226–7). ‘Evolution’ describes the slow progress of an idea towards
acceptability within the policy community. It is complete when policy makers
are receptive to the solution and have the motive and opportunity to adopt it (Kingdon, 1995, pp. 165–6; Lieberman, 2002). Policy changes,
but only when new solutions are made more consistent with existing practices.
The role of policy entrepreneurs is important but limited: they are the
well-informed and well-connected insiders who provide the knowledge and
tenacity to help bring the ‘streams’ together – but as ‘surfers waiting for the
big wave’ rather than people who control policy processes (Kingdon,
1995, 225; 1984, p. 173; Lustick, 2011, p. 204).
Baumgartner
and Jones (1993, pp. 35–7) explained that policy monopolies exist in subsystems
when some actors are able to create or maintain institutions whose rules
reflect a particular policy image. They advocate the importance of
creating multiple ‘venues’ with the
potential for the losers in policy disputes in one venue to challenge the
status quo and seek more sympathetic audiences in others. These challenges are
possible when groups pursue new policy images and try to encourage greater
attention and participation in other venues. The success of such challenges is
significant in number, but rare as a proportion of government activity, because
policy makers must ignore most issues. They also exhibit ‘selective attention’
– when their existing view of how the world works, and should work, limits
further the problems to which they pay attention and the solutions they are
willing to consider. Change often requires a critical mass of attention and
pressure to overcome the conservatism of decision makers and to shift their
attention from competing problems (Jones & Baumgartner, 2005, pp. 19–20,
48–51).
With
regard to the study, evolutionary curriculum policy is a gradual and continuous
change in curriculum practice. Advocates of this theory,
belief that change takes time because people become accustomed to the status
quo and prefer to make modifications in new behaviour in small and gradual
steps.
At independence, Cameroon inherited two
colonial systems of education, the one French and the other British. In the former British Cameroon, colonial education was in
the hands of the administration, the missionaries and the local authorities.
The objectives of education as set by the administration was to train temporal
civil servants who would help in the running of the affairs of the colony and
also to train clerks who would work with the administration and security service
(Courade and Courade,
1977).
Akoulouze (1984) pointed out that the fostering of education in the
former British Cameroon corresponded with the need for personnel, but given the
fact that Nigeria supplied the personnel used in this zone,
the administration did not see the need for Government to expand its
educational services. Missionaries considered education as an instrument for
propagating their religion and so one of the objectives of confessional schools
was to train catechists, pastors, priests and teachers. Akoulouze
(1984) however argued that the British trained a small number of personnel, who
became a small group of local elite oriented towards the British way of life
and encouraged the use of English in the other types of educational
establishments.
In the former French Cameroon, the
objectives of education were almost the same as those laid down in public and
in mission schools of the former British Cameroon. However, it was different in
two perspectives: it aimed at assimilating the indigenes and it was strongly
centralized. Gwanfogbe (2006) pointed out that
education in the former French Cameroon had been maintained at Independence
under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture in a centralized structure
as inherited from the French Colonial administration. Meanwhile, West Cameroon
had fought and gained a decentralized education system by achieving regional
status in the Nigerian federation.
Since reunification of the British
and French Cameroon in 1961, one of the problems that plagued the nation was
how to cope with the British and French inherited systems of education. The
former French Cameroon became the Federated State of East Cameroon, and the
Former British Southern Cameroon became the Federated State of West Cameroon.
Both states were under the control of Federal Government (Gwanfogbe,
2006). Primary education, including the training of teachers for primary
schools was left to the Government of the Federated states and placed in each
region under a Secretary of State for Education. A decree of June 1962
organized the Secretariat of State for Education. Each Secretariat of State had
inspectors of schools. The two states operated two different systems of
education. For example, while West Cameroon operated an eight-year primary
school system that began at the age of five years, East Cameroon operated a six
year programme that began at the age of six years. It is worthy to note that,
while the French-speaking system lasted six years, the English-speaking system
took eight years to be completed. However, successful candidates from both
systems ended up with a First School Leaving Certificate (F.S.L.C.) from the
West Cameroon Education system and an equivalent Certificat
d’Etudes Primieres Elementaires (C.E.P.E.) from the East Cameroon system.
Though Nursery education was optional in both states, it started in East
Cameroon at the age of four years and in West Cameroon at the age of three
years. The difference in the systems is represented in the table below.
|
East
Cameroon |
West
Cameroon |
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Age |
Class
Levels |
Certificates |
Class
Levels |
Certificates |
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3 |
|
C.E.P.E |
Nursery one |
F.S.L.C |
|
4 |
Ecole Maternelle |
Nursery two |
||
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5 |
Ecole Maternelle |
Infant one |
||
|
6 |
Initiation class |
Infant two |
||
|
7 |
|
Standard one |
||
|
8 |
Preparatory class |
Standard two |
||
|
9 |
Elementary class 1 |
Standard three |
||
|
10 |
Intermediate class 1 |
Standard four |
||
|
11 |
Intermediate class 2 |
Standard five |
||
|
12 |
|
Standard six |
||
From
Nwana in Ndongko and Tambo
(2000.p.12)
In secondary education, the West
Cameroon operated a five year first cycle and a two year second cycle secondary
education at the end of which successful candidates obtained the GCE O/L and
GCE A/L respectively, East Cameroon operated a four year first cycle and a
three year second cycle secondary school system at the end of which successful
candidates obtained a Brevet and a Baccalaureate certificate respectively. In
addition, in the first year of the second cycle of the secondary school in East
Cameroon, candidates obtained the Probatoire
Certificate.
|
West
Cameroon |
|
East
Cameroon |
|||||
|
Age |
Class
levels |
Certificates |
Age |
Class
levels |
Certificates |
||
|
13 |
Form one |
1st cycle |
GCE O/L |
12 |
Sixieme |
1st Cycle |
BREVET |
|
14 |
Form two |
13 |
Cinquieme |
||||
|
15 |
Form three |
14 |
Quatrieme |
||||
|
16 |
Form four |
15 |
Troisieme |
||||
|
17 |
Form five |
16 |
Seconde |
2nd Cycle |
Probatoire |
||
|
18 |
Lower sixth |
2nd cycle |
GCE/AL |
17 |
Premiere |
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|
|
19 |
Upper sixth |
18 |
Terminal |
Baccalaureate |
|||
From
Nwana in Ndongko and Tambo
(2000.p.12)
Harmonization of these systems became the
major focus of curriculum policy in Cameroon. This
was a strategy with a key purpose of blending the educational practices of
French-speaking and English-speaking, without actually creating a monolithic
system (Tchombe, 1998).
Following the advice of UNESCO, the first Law
on Education was issued harmonizing education in Cameroon. This was Law No
63/DF/13 of 19 June 1963 passed by the Federal House of Assembly. Harmonization
took two different forms: structural harmonization and programme harmonization.
This revolved around the length of courses,
the beginning and ending of the academic year, the dates of holidays and the
basic aims of education. Before the enactment of this policy, the age to begin
nursery education in West Cameroon was three years while in East Cameroon, it
started at the age of four years. West Cameroon operated an eight-year primary
school system which commenced at the age of five years, whereas in East
Cameroon primary education lasted six years and started at the age of six years.
The policy of harmonization aimed at
providing solutions to the differences in the structures of the two sub-systems
of education. This policy stipulated that the academic year will begin in
September and end in June and that the primary school system in West Cameroon
will be reduced to seven years from 1963 and to six years from 1965. The law
further stated that, In East Cameroon, secondary Education will last seven
years consisting of a five year first cycle and a two year second cycle.
From 1963 to 1968, attempts at programme
harmonization were made under the guidance of the then Federal Minister of
Education Mr. Eteki Mboumoua. Addressing a meeting on harmonization, the
minister said that Government policy in programme harmonization aimed at
“providing the same content of education to all Cameroonians no matter where
they were situated in the nation … to determine examination to be done on the
national level… since education was to be Cameroonian in content and spirit”. Participants
were to select from both systems what was valuable, enriching and educationally
good, and of acceptable standard.
Attempts at Implementation of
Harmonization of the two educational sub-systems will be discussed under the
federal period from 1963-1972 and the Unitary period from 1982 to present.
After independence, political
authorities in West Cameroon noticed some short comings in the economic and
social change effort. They attributed these to the colonial education system.
The slow rate in the expansion of education and the fact that it had not
stimulated rapid economic and social changes in the country was the remote
cause for the reforms in the English- speaking primary education system (Akoulouze, 1984).This reform was initiated by the
parliament of the former federated state of West Cameroon in 1963. The
objectives of this reform were:
·
The
democratization and the universalization of primary education.
·
Modernisation
and social mobility through a democratic and universal education.
·
Orientation
of education towards technological knowledge
·
Reduction of
all sorts of gaps through education.
On the first objective, Courade and Courade (1977)
remarked that as from 1959-1971, primary school registration increased from
64.000 to 210.000 pupils representing a percentage growth of 27% to 70%. He
further contends that the policy of democratization and universalization within
the West Cameroon Government made an attempt to raise the standard of teachers.
In 1972, 94% of teachers attended refresher courses as against 22% in the
former French East Cameroon.
In the former East Cameroon, the
awareness in the failure of the primary education system started within the
first years of independence. This was reported during a congress of Cameroon
Union held in Ebolowa in 1962. Furthermore, two
institutes in France did studies and published statistics illustrating the
gravity of the poor situation of education in the former East Cameroon. They
reported that the cost of education was becoming increasingly expensive and
that the school was not adapted to the economic, social and cultural needs of
the country in the following aspects:
·
The school
inherited from the colonial system did not offer wide chances of employment and
as such led to a high unemployment rate.
·
The school
inherited from the colonial system trained exclusively for urban jobs and thus
triggered rural exodus.
·
The
standards of education had fallen to the extent that it affected employers and
officials of public service.
·
The conduct
of the youth seemed to be degrading such that they paid very little attention
to their cultural heritage.
The first structure that was created
aiming at reforming the system was the Government Teachers Training College
(ENIR) opened in Yaounde in 1967.It was aimed at
training teacher animators in this new system to work towards the reform. Later
in 1974, the government created a new and expanded version of ENIR called
Institute for applied Pedagogy (IPAR) in Buea with
objectives to:
·
train teachers,
·
offer
refresher courses to teachers in service,
·
enable
research on the programmes and methods for the training and recycling of
teachers for primary schools,
·
Produce
school manuals and other pedagogic supports.
The objectives set out in Buea were those defined by the teaching reform in the
former east Cameroon. In order to experiment the new programmes and new
methods, 290 pilot schools were created across the provinces.
In addition to these common
objectives in the two teachers training institutes, there was a dire need to
harmonize the two primary school systems; English-speaking and French-speaking.
Nwana in Ndongko and Tambo
(2000) pointed out that after visiting the unified Cameroon from March 10th
to May 20thand studying the problem of education faced by the new
State, between UNESCO provided the following three suggestions for
harmonization.
Firstly, that French Cameroon could
impose its prevailing education system with French as the medium of
instruction. Though a cheaper choice to make, this option was rejected by the
English-speaking West Cameroon, because it looked like an extension of the
French colonial power on the English-speaking population and thus would make
them conquered people.
The second option held that after
harmonizing the curricula of the two inherited educational systems, the same
programme could be taught in both languages, that is, West Cameroon teaching
its programme in English while East Cameroon teaches its programme in French.
The above proposition sounded difficult and costly to implement. However it was
more feasible if only an additional clause stating that while the different
system would maintain their languages as media for instruction in their respective
zones, the language of the other system should be taught as part of the
programme.
Thirdly, that a new system could be
introduced beginning with the lowest class and continuing year by year until an
entirely new local system comes into being. This last option was also
considered because to them, a new system meant a harmonized or a reformed
programme.
After studying the proposal made by
UNESCO, the government of Cameroon decided to settle for a joint option two and
three. In 1963, therefore, the different administrations while acting
independently produced similar laws harmonizing the structure of education in
Cameroon. The laws were:
a) Loi fédérale No.1.63/13 du juin 1963
portant organisation de l’enseignement publique secondaire et technique (J.O.R.F.C.1963 )
b) Loi No.1.63/COR-5, du juillet
1963 ; portant organisation de l’enseignement primaire élémentaire
c) West Cameroon Education
Policy : Investment in Education (July 1963)
The harmonization ought to have been
in the form of structures and programmes of both systems. This consisted of the
same number of years of study, the same dates of holidays, and the same
beginning and ending of the academic year, for both the English-speaking and
French-speaking systems. The same programme was to be adopted, the same methods
and evaluation systems adopted and the second official language (French or
English) introduced in schools. The envisaged structural harmonization is
represented in the table below.
|
East
Cameroon |
West
Cameroon. |
||
|
Level
of Education |
Duration |
Level
of Education |
Duration |
|
Primary education |
6years |
Primary Education |
6years |
|
1st Cycle Secondary Education |
5years |
1st Cycle Secondary Education |
5years |
|
2nd Cycle Secondary Education |
2years |
2nd Cycle Secondary Education |
2years |
Adapted from Nwana in Ndongko and Tambo (2000.p.14.)
In the first ten years of
independence, considerable success was registered in structural harmonization
so that by 1973, the dates of holidays and the beginning and ending of the
academic year are same in both sub systems. However the lengths of courses in
both sections have not been fully harmonized. The French-speaking resisted this
change. While the English-speaking sub system has reduced the length of course
in the primary school to six years as practiced in the French-speaking system,
the French-speaking subsystem has still not changed their first and second cycle secondary school
system to five and two year respectively as stipulated by the Education Policy
statement of 1963.
As far as programme harmonization
was concerned, the East Cameroon law made no mention on harmonizing the
curricula. However, the West Cameroon law stressed on the introduction of the
French language in all post primary institutions in West Cameroon and indicated
that the curriculum should take into consideration the economy, culture and
political structure of the country. Considerable efforts were made by the
Cameroon government toward harmonizing the curriculum of the sub-systems. For
example, in the 1965/66 academic year, a joint committee of education experts
for the harmonization of Education and under the chairmanship of the Minister
of National Education, Youth and Culture met in Yaounde
from 13th January to 15th January 1966 to examine the
secondary school syllabuses and the examination systems of the two states. They
made the following recommendations:
·
That
the B.E.P.C. and the G.C.E. Ordinary level certificates obtained after the first cycle of
secondary school in the
East and West Cameroon respectively be replaced by a common certificate known as the Certificate for General Education (C.G.E.).
·
That
the Baccalaureate Certificate
and the G.C.E. Certificate obtained after the second cycle secondary education level in East and West Cameroon respectively be replaced by Secondary Education Leaving Certificate (S.E.L.C.).
The following subjects would consist of the syllabus of the
first cycle secondary school of both sub- systems. Each student at this level
no matter the option was required to take eight compulsory and two optional
subjects from the syllabus. These subjects include;
|
COMPULSORY
SUBJECTS |
||
|
Arts |
Science |
Agriculture |
|
English |
English |
English |
|
French |
French |
French |
|
Mathematics |
Mathematics |
Mathematics |
|
History |
History |
Geography |
|
Geography |
Geography |
Biology |
|
Biology |
Biology |
Botany |
|
Economics |
Physics |
Physics |
|
A third language |
Chemistry |
Chemistry |
|
OPTIONAL
SUBJECTS |
||
|
Civics |
Economics |
|
|
Mathematics II |
Business Administration |
|
|
Domestic Science |
Physical Education |
|
|
Shorthand/Typing |
Physics |
|
|
Fine Arts |
Chemistry |
|
|
Music |
A third language |
|
From
Nwana in Ndongko and Tambo
(2000.p. 15)
The joint committee also proposed
that for the second cycle of the secondary school, each made the following
recommendations for the subjects to be offered in the second cycle of secondary
education for both sub-systems: Each student is required to take three or four
subjects plus one subsidiary subject, one optional subject chosen from the
following series.
|
Series |
Compulsory |
One
option |
|
|
English Literature French Literature History Philosophy |
Geography Mathematics Economics A third Language |
|
History Geography Economics Philosophy French/English |
Mathematics French Literature English Literature A third Language |
|
|
Economics French or English Literature Geography /Philosophy |
Mathematics Biology A third Language |
|
|
Economics Mathematics Geography French/English |
Philosophy Botany Zoology A third Language |
|
|
|
Physics Chemistry Mathematics French/English |
Philosophy Botany Zoology A third Language |
|
Biology Chemistry Physics French/English |
Mathematics Philosophy Geography |
|
|
Biology Chemistry Mathematics |
Geography Philosophy Botany A third Language |
From
Nwana in Ndongko and Tambo
(2000.p. 15)
In 1968, the same committee met
again at Lycee des Jeunes filles in Douala to propose new syllabuses based on the
work done in Yaounde in 1966. Again in 1977, another
committee was held in Yaounde to put finishing
touches to the syllabuses produced at the Douala conference. In September 1973,
one year after a1972 Presidential Order No.1 CMR/72/018 setting up the
Institute of National Education (INE) in Yaounde,
another degree was signed requesting the INE to carry out educational research
in secondary school education with a view to harmonizing or improving the
proposed secondary school syllabus. Some syllabuses (Mathematics, Civics,
History, Geography) prepared by INE were tried at the Government Bilingual
College Molyko. Text books for these subjects
produced by the same institute were produced for try-out. Nwana
in Ndongko and Tambo (2000) contends that till date,
no assessment has been made on the work carried out by the Institute.
By 1982, the Government took off
attempts at reforming the new Cameroon General Certificate of Education (G.C.E)
Examination. A Ministerial circular dated signed in September 1983, stated that
as from the 1985 session for the G.C.E.`O` level and 1987 for the `A`level a candidate for the either examination must pass in
a specific number and range of subjects before they qualify for the award of a
certificate. Nwana
in Tambo and Ndongko (2003) affirms that the purpose
of the reform was to convert the Cameroon G.C.E examination from a single
subject certificate to a group certificate examination. In addition the ‘O’
level English, French and Mathematics were compulsory subjects to be written by
the candidates sitting for the exams. It further stated that a candidate who
fail to have at least an `E` grade in all the three compulsory subjects would
not qualify for the certificate except as otherwise decided by the Minister of
Education. Rene Ze Nguelle
who was then Minister signed the circular argued that while not doing enough to
be bilingual, English-speaking students were doing very poorly in Science
oriented subjects.
These reforms angered the
English-speaking students especially in Northwest and Southwest Provinces who
protested and boycotted school arguing that only the English-speaking education
system was reformed while the French-speaking system remained untouched; that
the syllabus in the science subjects were too French-oriented which made it
very difficult for English-speaking students with the British system of
education to succeed in the examinations;
they felt that the reforms were an attempt by the French to eradicate
the English culture and assimilate the English-speaking: and that the Minister
should not be given the powers to decide who should or should not be given an
academic certificate. The student protest led to the suspension of the
projected reforms and the appointment of a presidential Commission to study the
problem.
Another attempt at reforming the
G.C.E. Examinations to align with the Brevet by George Ngango who was Minister of Education, was also
resisted. In 1989, the Government organized an educational conference which
though abortive, aimed at harmonizing School Programme. However in 1993, the
Government created the General certificate of education and the Baccalaureate
examination boards to take care of secondary school graduation examination that
were steadily losing their credibility.
In 1995, the Government organized a
national education forum to deliberate on new perspectives on national
education in Cameroon. Tambo (2003) described the forum as a landmark event in
the educational development in Cameroon. He argues that for more than three
decades following independence and reunification Cameroon was running an
education system dictated by the whims and caprices of high government
officials.
Some reasons that motivated the
holding of the 1995 Education Forum included; the lack of a proper education
policy, poor implementation of legislation dealing with education, the neglect
of local and national cultural values especially
as concerns languages; poor adapted and overloaded programmes, and the
fact, despite the different
readjustments and reforms attempt the education system has undergone, national
realities have not always been taken into consideration as the system still
reflects the two colonial inherited systems.
Conscious of the limitation of the
Cameroon education policy, the Forum was a consultative body aimed at providing
recommendations or proposals to be submitted to the government for a new
educational policy. Tambo (2003) concluded that the Forum achieved its
objectives when the Ministry of National education submitted its report to the
National Assembly in 1998, which the passed it into a Law to Lay Down Guidelines for Education in Cameroon. Since then this
document has been used as a policy document to guide teaching in Primary and
secondary school in Cameroon. Following suit, have been an unprecedented and
evolutionary formulations of many strategic documents by governments to provide
sustainable education to Cameroonians.
A careful examination of the
narrative on harmonization as presented in the foregoing parts of this chapter
would lead to the conclusion that the harmonization policy though inspired by a
revolutionary ideology was at the level of implementation governed mainly by
conservative and evolutionary trends.
Independence
and reunification in 1960/61 was as a result of a series of revolutionary
actions aimed at liberating Cameroonians from the colonial gap. Education
policy especially in the area of school curriculum was therefore expected to
undergo a revolutionary change after independence. Since independence and
reunification of French Cameroon and British Southern Cameroon, the issue of
harmonization of the educational programmes of the French-speaking and the
English-speaking sectors is one of the most critical policies in the
educational system. Independence and reunification meant turning a new page in
the history of Cameroon. The need for radical changes in the educational system
ushered in the curriculum policy of Harmonization. Harmonization of both systems is central to
political development in Cameroon. It is one of the ways through which national
integration and national unity can be achieved. However, fifty years after
Cameroons reunification, questions of integration and national unity have
remained a disturbing issue in Cameroon’s Educational landscape. Despite
efforts made towards the implementation of this policy, only structural
harmonization has been partly achieved. The curriculum contents of both sub
systems still remain conservative and reflect their colonial past.
The conservative trend is evident in
the resistance of the two subsystems with respect to structural and curriculum
matters. Conservatism is seen in the structure of courses, teaching methods,
examinations and other school practices that have remained essentially true to
their colonial heritage. The francophones tended to
kick against innovations that went against practices in France and the
Anglophones tended do the same with regard to changes that went against
practices in Britain.
As far as the structure of the two
subsystems is concerned, the lengths of courses in both sections have not been
fully harmonized. The French-speaking resisted this change. While the
English-speaking sub system has reduced the length of course in the primary
school to six years as practised in the French-speaking subsystem, the
French-speaking subsystem has still not changed its first and second cycle
secondary school system to five and two years respectively as stipulated by the
Federal Law of 1963 and repeated in the 1998 Law.
In the English-speaking sub-system,
the certificate testifying completion of primary education is still referred to
as the First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC). A pass in the Common Entrance
Examination (CEE) organized by the Government is still required of candidates
for admission into secondary school. The General Certification Examination is
still largely a single-subject Certificate as inherited from Britain.
In the French-speaking sub-system,
the six-year primary school course is still described in terms of colonial-
inherited nomenclature (Section initial, Cours preparatoirs, cours moyens…). At the secondary level, the 4-3 secondary
education course, the Probatoire and Bacaleaureat Examinations have been maintained and
structured essentially as there were inherited at independence from France.
The Evolutionary Trend in the
Harmonization Policy is demonstrable in the willingness of the two sub-systems
to gradually change the structures and the curricula inherited from the French
and British colonial administration.
Considerable success has been
registered in harmonization of structures so that by 1973, the dates of
holidays and the beginning and ending of the academic year were same in both
sub systems. The English-speaking subsystem has gradually changed to align with
that of the French-speaking sub- system. The first move with regard to the
length of the primary course was taken in 1965 when the number of years for
study in primary school was reduced from 8years to 7years, and the second move
occurred in 2006 from 7years to 6years as was stipulated by the Education Laws
of 1963 and 1998.Furthermore, the English-speaking sub-system changed it
nomenclature for the different levels of primary school from “the Standard” to
the “class”.
Factors
accounting for the conservative and evolutionary trends had to do with
political considerations, cultural resistance and resources.
The Ex-Minister of Education, Rene Ze Nguele, declared in an
interview with Akoulouze (1984) that the
harmonization of the English-speaking and French-speaking primary education was
more a political than a technical issue complicated by the problem of cultural
alienation. There was therefore a need to tackle this problem in order to
arrive at the objective of the reform in school.
Furthermore, the meaning of Harmonization has
raised a lot of controversy within Cameroonians. Consequently, the process of
harmonizing the two educational systems has been misconstrued. Resistance in
implementing the policy of harmonization continue to persist because the
process has been conceived as assimilation, (Fonkeng,
2007; Ngalim, 2014), homogenization and immersion (Echu, 2005). This is in line with Fullan
& Park (1981); Miles & Louis (1990) who found that clarity about goals
and process related to curriculum change is critical. Actors are cooperative to
change efforts if they understand the meaning and purpose of that change.
Successful implementation can take place when actors are actually clear about
what they would do when implementing a policy. They must have an image of what
to do to achieve the intended goal.
Given that every system of education
represents an important aspect in the culture of a society, harmonization of
the two systems would have meant disintegration of an aspect of culture of each
community. In Cameroon there are two dominant cultures: English and French, and
harmonization of the two systems meant the abandonment of certain cultural
aspects of both systems to embrace a mix system. Thomas (1981) argues that when
two cultures coexist, they become rivals so much so that one will dominate the
other. Literature on cultural dependency shows that when cultures parallely evolve, their interaction may lead to the
following four phenomena;
·
Accommodation of one cultural group, whereby each
group voluntarily adopts certain aspects of the other group, yet still
preserves its own identity:
·
Elimination of one group by the other. By this, the
eliminated culture either wilfully or forcefully abandons some of its cultural aspects and
replace them with those of the other group:
·
Domination of one group. This occurs when the
dominated group decides to adopt the domineering group’s culture:
·
Integration of two groups. In this process, two
cultures merge to form one. The combination of the two cultures is done by
contributions from each group. When it is done voluntarily, it is called
parallel accommodation and when it is defined and imposed by a neutral
authority, the integration is done through negotiations and impositions.
In the case of harmonization of the two sub-
systems of education in Cameroon, it could be integration through negotiation
or imposition. Negotiated or imposed integration takes into consideration the
will for public interest to achieve a politico-cultural unity than the will of
every social or cultural group. However, during negotiation or imposition,
there is always the desire to dominate and resist domination. This explains why
the authorities in charge of the harmonization were perpetually linked to the
education system of their former colonial masters. The study argues that Harmonization in the
Cameroon System of Education has been interpreted in terms of homogenization
whereby the French-speaking system has an overdue advantage over the English-speaking
system. This has led to excessive centralization and control of educational
practices from Yaounde.
Another hindrance to harmonization is the
bi-cultural nature of Cameroon. Owing to its colonial heritage, Cameroon is a
bicultural state where two cultures of the English-speaking and the
French-speaking must co-exist in many aspects of national life. Harmonization
of the two cultures for educational purposes also poses great difficulty in
that each culture jealously preserves its values and cultural heritage. Neither
of the two subsystems is ready to compromise their educational value for the
sake of harmonizing the educational system of Cameroon. The need to preserve
each culture actually frustrates the policy of Harmonization in Cameroon education
system. However, debates on harmonization of the educational system in Cameroon
are still ongoing.
Gwanfogbe (2006) argues that
the feeling of nostalgia for the colonial curriculum and educational practices
is a reason why harmonization was resisted by both subsystems. After
reunification, the East and West Cameroon government were still under the
continued influence of the former metropolis through financial assistance and
supply of expatriates. East Cameroon continued to sign bilateral treaties with
France for material and financial report. Even when the First Bilingual
secondary school was open, teachers came from France and Britain and more so,
the first two principals of the school were French men. This made it quite
difficult for the Cameroonians to break free from the colonial Yoke.
Since
independence and reunification of French Cameroon and British Southern
Cameroon, the issue of harmonization of the educational programmes of the
French-speaking and the English-speaking sectors is one of the most critical
policies in the educational system. Independence and reunification meant
turning a new page in the history of Cameroon. The need for radical changes in
the educational system ushered in the curriculum policy of Harmonization. Harmonization of both systems is central to
political development in Cameroon. It is one of the ways through which national
integration and national unity can be achieved. However, fifty years after Cameroons
reunification, questions of integration and national unity have remained a
disturbing issue in Cameroon’s Educational landscape. Despite efforts made
towards the implementation of this policy, only structural harmonization has
been partly achieved. The curriculum contents of both sub systems still remain
conservative and reflect their colonial past.
Harmonization took both a
revolutionary and the conservative trends in its implementation. It was
evolutionary because the policy marked a point of departure from the colonial
system whereby the aims of education that were meant for the interest of the
colonial administrators experience a paradigm shift towards education that
should meet the needs and interest of Cameroonians. It however took a
conservative trend because of resistance.
RECOMMENDATIONS
In
view of the above narratives, this study concludes that though harmonization
has been achieved in some areas, there are certain pockets of resistance in the
harmonization process. The education Laws of 1963 and 1998 stipulated that
education in Cameroon is in two sub-systems; the English –speaking subsystem
and the French-speaking subsystem. The laws therefore recommended that the
structures and programmes of both subsystems be harmonized. However, till date
the process has not been completed. The study therefore recommends that the
French sub-system should complete the harmonization process by establishing a
5-year and 2-year secondary education system to match with practice in the
English-speaking subsystem as recommended by the Education Laws.
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