Cameroon's separatist conflict forces hundreds of thousands of students out of education

YAOUNDE, Cameroon — Jane Ndamei’s dream of becoming a medical doctor almost cost her life five years ago.

The 20-year-old student from Cameroon’s restive southwestern region was taking her Grade 12 exam when she suddenly heard gunshots. Shortly after, armed men rushed into the school, forcing Ndamei and her peers to flee the examination hall.

“It was the sound of death and I really thought I wouldn’t make it. I prayed silently for a miracle,” she recalled.

Ndamei, 15 at the time, was one among 2.8 million children in West and Central Africa whose education was put on hold by violent conflict in recent years, according to the United Nations. More than 14,000 schools were closed due to violence and insecurity across 24 countries in West and Central Africa as of June.

As of 2023, the separatist crisis in west Cameroon and incursions by the Boko Haram extremist group in the north left 1.4 million school-age children in dire need of educational assistance, according to a report from the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group. The U.N. said that in 2019, the year Ndamei’s school was attacked, 855,000 children were out of school in northwest and southwest Cameroon, where armed separatist groups targeted schools.

The Central African nation has been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017, with the stated goal of breaking away from the area dominated by the French-speaking majority and setting up an independent, English-speaking state.

The government has accused the separatists of committing atrocities against English-speaking civilians. The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced more than 760,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group.

Since the beginning of the conflict, separatist fighters initiated and enforced a school boycott as a means to pressure the government for political recognition.

Separatist fighters, opposed to the French-speaking education system organized by the central government, have killed and abducted students and teachers, burned and looted school buildings, and intimidated families into keeping their children out of school, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

“The deliberate targeting of schools and the systemic denial of education because of conflict is nothing short of a catastrophe,” said Hassane Hamadou, NRC’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“Every day that a child is kept out of school is a day stolen from their future and from the future of their communities,” Hamadou added.

Ndamei had to move to the French-speaking, western region of the country and stay with extended family members in order to continue her education. She is now enrolled in a university nursing program.

“I had the privilege to stay with relatives in regions not affected by the crisis but many of my classmates did not have this opportunity,” Ndamei told The Associated Press.

She said many have become young mothers.

“You see 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds sitting in the house, and before you know it, they are pregnant, their futures are shattered,” Ndamei said. “Parents are frustrated, children are frustrated."

Nelson Tabuwe from Batibo town in the northwest said his three children — ages 10, 12 and 15 — have been out of school for nearly seven years due to the separatist conflict.

“My last child, Jude Ngam, aspired to be a mechanical engineer. His elder sister, Janet has always wanted to be a medical doctor, and my eldest daughter, Claire, always told me she wants to be a teacher,” Tabuwe told The Associated Press.

The 61-year-old and his family fled the separatist conflict in their hometown and found refuge in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé. The adjustment has been difficult, with the whole family living cramped in a single room with very little money and Tabuwe unable to find a stable job in the capital.

“We came here with nothing,” Tabuwe said.

Since being displaced by the violence, he said, providing for his family has only become more difficult. Tabuwe's three children, still out of school, have to help their parents make money.

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