Education Divide Widens in Cameroon as Anglophone Regions are Left Behind

It is another official back-to-school campaign in Cameroon, yet we are still talking about the same issues that have held Anglophones back for over eight years now.

On one side (Yaounde, Douala, Bafoussam, and other francophone cities), schools have mostly resumed smoothly despite economic and social hardships.

On the other hand, (North West and South West regions), education has become a battlefield.

Students, teachers, and parents have paid the highest price as fresh lockdowns imposed by separatist groups continue to block school resumptions.

Since 2017, Anglophone separatists have enforced widespread school boycotts in these two regions, aiming to delegitimize the government and assert control.

Cameroon has seen some of the worst school-related atrocities in recent years, including kidnappings of teachers and students, school burnings, and direct attacks on children.

In 2021, Human Rights Watch reported that over 70 schools in the Anglophone regions had been attacked, with at least 15 directly by separatist fighters.

Incidents such as the kidnapping and torture of teachers like Florence in Wum, the Kumba school massacre in 2020, and a teacher named Clara, who had her right hand cut off, have compounded fears about returning to normal education.

The Lost Generation

Thousands of children in the most remote parts of the Anglophone regions, where security is scarce, have been the most affected.

Some have missed five to seven years of schooling and are now too old to re-enroll in primary schools. Girls have been particularly vulnerable.

In francophone regions, the situation is starkly different, with francophone children advancing while the English system lags behind.

This raises questions about the motives of those enforcing school boycotts.

The definition of who is an Anglophone or Francophone in Cameroon is increasingly being reduced to “whoever studied in the English system.”

This sad reality is slowly taking hold in the country. Observers now question what becomes of the fight for equality that Anglophone teachers and lawyers have championed for decades.

Analysts strongly argue that a society cannot be built by holding education hostage.

As of September 2025, Ambazonia separatist leaders continue to oppose back-to-school initiatives in the Anglophone regions, maintaining their stance of school boycotts and issuing direct threats to educational institutions.

In 2021, Ayaba Cho Lucas, leader of the radical Ambazonia Defence Forces, told Human Rights Watch that, “Schools will remain closed in Ambazonia because of insecurity created by the failure of Cameroon to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law to respect schools and teachers as civilian objects and, most importantly, because of our opposition to the introduction or continuous usage of any colonial curriculum of education as the basis of knowledge in Ambazonia.”

Although Cho was arrested in 2024 and jailed by the Norwegian government for atrocities committed during the armed conflict, his colleagues at the ADF have stepped into his shoes.

Government’s Counter-Responses

It appears that the population of the North West and South West regions has largely been left to fend for itself, as the Cameroonian government has not done enough to create a peaceful environment for education to thrive over the years.

The state’s main strategy has often been the deployment of soldiers and gendarmes around schools in major Anglophone towns.

While this shows a presence, it also turns schools into potential targets, putting students, teachers, and parents at risk.

More often than not, the government seems more focused on propaganda than on finding lasting solutions.

Every September for the past seven to eight years, officials launch high-profile back-to-school campaigns, distributing bags, books, and uniforms.

State media, like CRTV, showcase smiling children in reopened schools, mostly in urban centers such as Buea, Bamenda, and Limbe.

Meanwhile, in rural areas, classrooms remain shut, abandoned, burnt, or even repurposed as military bases.