CRISIS BEYOND WAR: THE WEAPONIZATION OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAMEROON
BY ALEXIS TIMKO
For many nations, the threat to education began in mid-2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic as classes shifted to an online format. But the children of Southern Cameroon have watched for nearly five years now as their education system burned to the ground—both physically and metaphorically.
After demonstrations by Anglophone teachers and lawyers in November 2016, demanding reform within the Francophone government, there have been ongoing reports of arson at children’s schools in retaliation.
Small children were forced to watch as their already underfunded schools were set ablaze, and their parents were dragged away by uniformed militia groups.
In Cameroon’s internal conflict, children are among the principal victims. With over 80 percent of schools closed since the start of the conflict, education has become a scarcity for South Cameroonian children, sparking concern over the future of an entire generation.
The Francophone government enforced an education ban in Anglophone schools in an effort to eradicate Anglophone teaching and convert the younger generation to a Francophone way of life. The shutdowns have been exacerbated by Anglophone South Cameroonian separatist fighters demanding schools remain closed as a demonstration of Anglophone solidarity.
In some areas, locals have reported Francophone fighters forcing the closure of schools while others have reported hit-and-run attacks by Anglophone insurgents. What had begun as a call for greater autonomy for the Anglophone regions has turned into a weaponization of access to education by both sides of the civil war.
According to BBC News Pidgin, at one school in Limbe, a southwest region of Cameroon, raiders reportedly stormed a school and forced students and instructors to strip naked, looted the premises, and sexually abused some of the women.
In November 2020, UNICEF warned of an alarming spike in attacks on educational institutions in Cameroon, indicating that the crusade against education that began four years prior was not slowing down. One year earlier, UNICEF Spokesperson Toby Fricker said that targeting education in Cameroon is “putting the future of an entire generation of children at risk, children who with the right support and opportunities can build a more stable and prosperous future,” yet the warning seemed to have no effect on encouraging international intervention in the situation.
Without a sense of normalcy or access to education for children, the future of South Cameroonian culture remains at risk.
Now, as students are looking at the fifth year of school closures, the risk factors that come with a lack of education have been amplified. Without schools to attend, children are put at a much greater risk for abuse and manipulation by militias and the government.
In Cameroon, the most immediate threat to girls is child marriage and pregnancy, while boys face a higher risk of recruitment by military and extremist groups.
Researchers from the World Bank and International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) found that each additional year of secondary education may reduce the likelihood of marrying before the age of 18 by almost five percentage points. The study also found that each additional year of secondary education reduced the likelihood of birth-giving under age 18.
The presence of Boko Haram in Cameroon coupled with the closing of schools also leaves girls vulnerable to abduction by the Islamic terrorist group. Though the group has a larger recorded presence in the north, weak protections in the south may trigger their migration in that direction.
Many children have been orphaned in South Cameroon as parents, particularly well-educated parents, either flee the country or are imprisoned by the government due to suspicion of separatist involvement. In an effort to thwart the government’s plans of converting the younger generation to the Francophone Cameroonian culture, children have been increasingly recruited for the separatist cause. The result is a growing number of child soldiers.
Without a sense of normalcy or access to education for children, the future of South Cameroonian culture remains at risk. More immediately, the health and safety of South Cameroonian children must be prioritized. This is an opportunity for governments and international organizations to turn a spotlight on this situation and, in doing so, perhaps help save a generation of Cameroonian children.
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Alexis Timko is a junior at the University of Southern California majoring in Journalism and Law, History, Culture. She currently serves as an editor and reporter at USC Annenberg Media and as an intern for the International Human Rights Clinic at USC Gould School of Law. She is participating in a foreign affairs reporting class taught by Professor Philip Seib, a collaboration between the Pacific Council and the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.
