In recent years, schools in Cameroon have become more unsafe due to a rise in violence of several forms. This ranges from shootings reported in 2020 in Kumba, where gunmen killed students in a school, and in Yaoundé in 2021, where a student fired shots in the air, threatening his teacher to award him undue marks, to attacks by parents on teachers, and by students on their peers, schoolmates, and teachers. Cases of violence of this nature were reported in Government Technical High School Sangmelima, Government Bilingual High School Kribi, Government High School Nkoabang in Yaoundé, and Government Technical High School Fokamezo in Dschang during the 2020/2021 academic year. Incidences of sexual-related violence acts orchestrated by groups of students in Yaoundé, Douala, Kribi, and Edea made headlines on several media platforms during the same year.
Reactions to these happenings have been varied. While some people have associated them with falling morals in communities, others have blamed school authorities and teachers for their occurrences. This is because some of them have acted inappropriately in some situations and have escalated some events to violence. Due to this, lead secondary educators in Cameroon needed to be equipped with competencies to promote peace and non-violence. This was to fortify them with skills of early identification and prevention of unwanted behaviors to make schools safer, more inclusive and learning-friendly.
As Leanne Cannon, former Public Affairs Officer at U.S. Embassy, Yaoundé - Cameroon, puts it in a message to participants of the project during the first phase in the 2021/2022 academic year, in Adamawa, West, Littoral and Centre Regions, “this (violence) is sending very disturbing signals because schools ought to be like sacred places, where children can exercise the right to education, and parents the confidence to send them there.” As a result, the project was highly relevant, given that efforts had to be stepped up in the right direction to mitigate school-based violence and make learning environments enabling. In failing to make this possible, violence from schools could ripple into communities and make Cameroon a breeding ground for hostility and terrorism.
The project report is attached below
The Cameroon Fulbright TEA Alumni Association, CAFTAL
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