Students in Cameroon used a rare public appearance of Paul Biya, the 91-year-old president, during the country’s 52nd National Day celebrations, to protest about the poor state of the higher education sector and to call for reforms.

Unable to channel their grievances to the head of state because of administrative blockages and his reduced mobility and public visibility, they used the festivities in Yaoundé to march past him with placards conveying their views about higher education.

Messages included: ‘We want improved, quality teaching’, ‘Yes to inclusive higher education and no to discrimination’, ‘No tribalism and favouritism in the appointment of university officials’.

‘We need reopening of admission in PhD programmes’, ‘[We] need broadband high-speed internet connectivity on campuses’ and ‘Scholarships should be based on merit, not favouritism’ were some of the other messages.

Students who protested in Buea, Douala, Bamenda and Dschang expressed the same grievances.

University World News reported in 2023 on the government suspension of PhD admission programmes in all state universities, blaming the decision on questions about the financial management of the programmes.

Ongoing protests

Students and lecturers have continued to air their voices against poor services and an absence of enabling higher education infrastructure, among other challenges, that hinder quality training in all of the 11 state universities in the country.

The students said they hoped their messages hit the mark. “We are sure the head of state, who is the highest authority of the country, got our messages. The [president’s] wife, who was with him, also got our messages and we are hopeful,” Magerate Abeng, a second-year student in the University of Yaoundé 1, who took part in the march, told University World News.

The students said several complaints and calls for reforms to promote social justice and better study environments had been channelled to the higher education authorities, but no action had been taken so far to address them.

“Our student unions have sent complaints to the minister of higher education and even the presidency but [have received] no reactions or feedback. We know this information doesn’t get to him because of administrative bottlenecks.

“That is why we used this national ceremony to pass on our messages,” Nkumbe Felix, a third-year law student from the University of Yaoundé II told University World News.

Unity under attack?

The date of 20 May is important in Cameroon’s history. Cameroonians voted in a 1972 national referendum for a unitary state as opposed to a federal state which existed at the time.

But critics have said the unity of the state has been sacrificed at the altar of corruption, tribalism and bad governance that have affected the development of all sectors in the country, including university institutions.

Reports by Project House Net show that students in state universities in the country, in particular, face major challenges that need to be dealt with to improve the quality of learning.

“Many universities in Cameroon lack effective mentorship and career guidance programmes for students,” the report said.

It also cites “frequent power outages and blackouts as well as political instability, especially in the North-west and South-west, which have triggered high insecurity for students studying in the two crisis regions”.

Human Rights Watch has said in a report that the government has not been able to find lasting solutions to the anglophone crisis that started in 2016 and which has affected teaching and learning in many schools, including higher education, in the two English-speaking regions of South-west and North-west.

But some pro-government academics argue that reforms are a gradual process and the fight against bad governance is a collective responsibility and efforts.

“The fight for better management of state institutions, including universities, is a collective effort. Students, lecturers and school authorities have to contribute towards improving discipline and academic standards in our higher education institutions,” Professor Manassé Aboya Endong, a senior political science lecturer at the University of Douala and member of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, or CPDM, told University World News.

Culled from University World News