Conflict in Cameroon shatters educational dreams for thousands of children

Jane Ndamei’s lifelong dream of becoming a doctor nearly cost her life five years ago. At the age of 15, while sitting for her Grade 12 exam in Cameroon’s troubled southwestern region, gunshots rang out, turning her school into a battleground. Armed men stormed the building, forcing Ndamei and her classmates to flee for their lives. "It was the sound of death," she recalled. "I thought I wouldn't make it. I prayed silently for a miracle."

Ndamei was just one of the 2.8 million children across West and Central Africa whose education was upended by violent conflict in recent years, according to the United Nations. More than 14,000 schools across 24 countries were closed as a result of violence and insecurity. In Cameroon, the separatist conflict in the west, coupled with Boko Haram's incursions in the north, left 1.4 million children in desperate need of educational aid by 2023.

In 2019, the year Ndamei's school was attacked, nearly 855,000 children were out of school in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon, where armed separatists targeted educational institutions in protest of the French-speaking government. The conflict began in 2017 when English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion, seeking independence from the French-speaking majority. The fighting has displaced over 760,000 people and claimed more than 6,000 lives, according to the International Crisis Group.

Since the conflict's start, separatist fighters have enforced school boycotts as leverage in their political struggle. These fighters, opposing the French-speaking education system, have abducted students, killed teachers, and destroyed schools, leaving families fearful of sending their children to class. “The deliberate targeting of schools is a catastrophe,” said Hassane Hamadou, Regional Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). “Every day a child is kept out of school is a day stolen from their future.” Ndamei was fortunate enough to move to a French-speaking region and continue her education. She is now enrolled in a university nursing program. But many of her peers were not so lucky. "A lot of them became young mothers, their futures shattered,” she said.

Nelson Tabuwe, a father from northwest Cameroon, shares a similar story of loss. His three children, who once had dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer, doctor, and teacher, have been out of school for nearly seven years due to the conflict. Forced to flee to Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, the family now lives in a cramped, single room, struggling to survive. “We came here with nothing,” Tabuwe said, his children now helping the family make ends meet instead of pursuing their education.

In Cameroon, the conflict is not only a battle for political recognition but also a struggle for the future of an entire generation. As violence continues, the dreams of thousands of children remain in peril, and the prospects of education seem more distant than ever.