By Njoh Linda
After 35 days of silence, the streets of Bamenda, headquarters of Cameroon’s embattled North West region, are once again buzzing with the sound of pupils and students, going to schools.
But behind today’s seemingly hopeful school resumption lies a deeper story, one of lost rights, fear, and a generation paying the price for a conflict beyond their control.
The separatist-imposed lockdown, which began on September 8, the official school resumption date in Cameroon, paralyzed most parts of the North West and South West regions for more than a month, and left schools shut, markets empty, and livelihoods destroyed.
As classrooms reopened this October 14, teachers and students returned to class not just to begin lessons, but to the daunting task of catching up on four lost academic weeks.
“We’ve lost an entire month of teaching while our peers in Francophone regions have continued learning,” said Comfort, a secondary school teacher in Bamenda.
“This deepens the educational divide and punishes children for a political struggle they didn’t start,” she added.
A Violation of the Right to Education
The extended lockdown highlights one of the most persistent human rights violations in Cameroon’s conflict-hit Anglophone regions: the denial of children’s right to education.
Under both Cameroon’s constitution and Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every child has the right to free and compulsory education.
Yet, in Bamenda and other parts of the North West and South West regions, this right has been systematically undermined by threats, school burnings, and armed group-enforced lockdowns.
Human rights defenders say this latest shutdown represents a new low in the ongoing conflict, humanitarian organizations estimate that the lockdown has worsened food insecurity and disrupted healthcare access for thousands.
Government’s Silence and Citizens’ Fatigue
While authorities in Yaounde have been condemning the lockdown, little was done to protect the rights of affected civilians or ensure access to basic services during the period.
Civil society groups argue that both state and non-state actors bear responsibility for the deteriorating human rights situation.
A Generation at Risk
Education experts warn that the repeated school closures risk producing a “lost generation” of children with weakened learning outcomes and limited future prospects.
With schools finally reopening, teachers face the urgent task of compressing lessons while learners will be forced to face very long school hours.
As the sun rose over Bamenda this morning, the sight of children walking to school symbolized resilience. But until education is truly safeguarded from politics and violence, the city’s return to normalcy remains fragile and the human rights of its youngest residents, uncertain.
