The British colonial policy of education in the Southern Cameroons was guided by the philosophy of adapting education to the mentality, aptitude and occupations of the local population. This policy was gradually abandoned in the 1950s when it was realized that it was serving the colonial exploitative agenda of keeping natives to a permanently…

This article investigates the association between studying with a contract teacher and a student's academic outcomes, using data from five Francophone African countries for two grade levels and two subjects. Based on this analysis, the evidence for or against this form of teacher hiring is inconclusive. The results indicate that these…

It is 40 years since Coombs (1967) first drew attention to the World Education Crisis, and specifically problems in the educational systems of countries in the developing world. Today, many of these problems remain, and are most visible in the educational systems of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A large number of children remain out of school…

This paper is an examination of the pedagogical and cultural impact of the PROPELCA (Operational Research Project for the Teaching of Cameroonian Languages) mother-tongue education program being implemented in the Bafut, Kom and Nso' language communities of the Northwest Province of Cameroon. Using research carried out in 2002-2003, the author…

It is generally agreed that spending on education and health is key to poverty reduction, but simply allocating more resources to these sectors does not ensure that poverty actually declines. On the basis of four in-depth case studies (on Indonesia, Madagascar, Peru and Tanzania) and three Technical Papers on malnutrition and primary education in…