Government could bail out institutions hit by low enrolment

Higher education authorities in Cameroon are frantically trying to sustain the future of teacher training institutions in the country amid concerns over low enrolment figures after the government suspended the direct recruitment of their graduates into the public service.

Government reform of higher teacher training colleges in 2023, touted as seeding for a bumper quality harvest in the future, is producing unexpectedly negative results: a dwindling student population. The decree allows open competition in the job market upon graduation.

Cameroon’s Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo, told rectors of the universities of Bertoua, Douala and Yaoundé 1, among others, that he is worried about dwindling student numbers at the institutions since the government’s decision. Fame Ndongo discussed the matter with the rectors in Yaounde on 21 August 2024. Their universities have teacher training colleges.

“Teacher training institutions are the bedrock of our education system. We must not only sustain their functioning but seek ways to improve the training quality,” the minister said at the meeting.

Serious teacher shortage looming

Reports presented by the heads of universities that run the Higher Teacher Training Colleges (ENS) and Higher Technical Teachers Colleges (ENSET) show that the direct recruitment suspension discourages students from enrolling in these institutions.

The reports show that in the 2023-24 academic year, not even a third of the usual number of students enrolled in the first-year classes at the ENS and ENSET. This threatens to aggravate the already serious teacher shortage in the secondary and high school sectors, due to a massive brain drain to Canada and China for better pay.

“We had to inform the government of this disturbing situation. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure education institutions are functioning well,” Professor Magloire Ondoa, the rector of the University of Douala, said.

Little hope of higher enrolment rate

Lecturers are also concerned. “The poor enrolment is indicative of the fate that awaits these institutions and even the lecturers whose services are threatened,” Professor Owona Nguini of the University of Yaoundé 1 told University World News.

He said that the decreasing enrolment rates are clear signs of rumblings and discontent from students who hitherto saw these institutions as a window to employment opportunities and a blueprint for future teaching careers.

University authorities fear the poor enrolment rate will worsen this year. “The 2024-25 university academic year begins in October, and we are not yet seeing potential students making inquiries about our teacher training programmes as has been the case in the past,” Professor Henri Désiré Modi Koko Bebey, secretary general at the University of Douala, said at the meeting.

The university authorities also expressed fear that the situation may not only trigger a shortage of trained teachers in secondary and high schools in the country, but will speed up the exodus of graduates out of the country, increasing graduate unemployment and its socio-economic consequences.

“With limited job opportunities in the public service for graduates, many more will be tempted to leave the country, unemployment will aggravate and this is not healthy for the country’s economy,” Nguini said.

Graduates seek better life abroad

University graduates say jobs in the country have become scarce due to the economic squeeze while the growth in information technology is creating a myriad of opportunities abroad. “Many graduates in Cameroon prefer self-employment careers in ICTs, cinematography, and there are lots of these opportunities out there in the diaspora, urging many young people to become job hunting crazy,” Ngeh Collins, a graduate from the University of Dschang, told University World News.

However, Fame Ndongo announced that Prime Minister Joseph Ngute has been asked to re-examine the decree and reverse the direct recruitment suspension decision. “The head of government is aware of the stakes and we are hopeful something will be done to find a lasting solution.”

While the government acknowledges the shortage of teachers, it blamed the suspension of direct integration of teachers into the public service last year (2023) on the lack of funds to pay them.

“The suspension of direct state recruitment into the public service in some professions is the result of the current economic crisis that has put pressure on the state treasury. The government will, however, resume recruitment when the situation improves,” Joseph LE, the minister of public service and administrative reform, announced on state media last year, justifying the decision.

Attacks contribute to exodus

Experts say that, even before the suspension of direct recruitment, the shortage of teaching staff in schools has been an all-consuming issue on the table of the government.

“With the ongoing teacher exodus and an estimated 1,000 who retire annually, the teacher shortage in the country was already a worrisome situation. The suspension of direct recruitment came to make an already bad situation worse,” Dr Fridolin Nke, a former philosophy lecturer at the University of Yaoundé 1, told University World News.

The attacks on schools, students and teachers in Cameroon’s anglophone regions since 2017 have had a devastating impact on children’s right to education, Human Rights Watch reported in 2021.