This book provides an in-depth study of the nature and pattern of educational development in Cameroon from 1844 to the post-independence period. Drawing upon a wide range of sources including hitherto unused archival material and formal interviews with people involved in Cameroon’s pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial educational traditions, the result is an elegantly written history enlivened by illustrative texts and archival pictures.

This book traces the evolution, expansion and changing provisions of the Cameroonian educational system through the various stages of the country's history, addressing policy issues, national developmental perspectives, and international constraints. This book should appeal to scholars interested in education, especially on the African continent, African history, and European influence in African society and history. for the provision of schools and the expansion of education in Cameroon. It offers an examination of the role of missionary agencies, successive colonial and national governments and private agencies (confessional and lay) in the establishment of schools within the context of social, economic, cultural and political obligations. Cameroon, like many African nations, can trace the origin of its formal education to evangelization and imperialism, both of which have greatly influenced the development, structure and content of its educational system. This book traces the evolution, expansion and changing provisions of this system through the various stages of the country's history, addressing policy issues, national developmental perspectives, and international constraints.

This volume examines the relationships between the German colonial administration, the Basel Mission, the British Baptist Missionary Society and other missionary societies that characterized the setting up of Basel Mission education in Cameroon against the backdrop of intense rivalry. Spanning a period of 82 years, the book meticulously documents the kick off, expansion and elaboration of the Basel Mission’s efforts to institutionalise education as well as its objectives and operational modalities. Basel Mission Education in Cameroon deepens our understanding of European imperialism and its legacy in postcolonial societies. Policy makers and educationists in Cameroon and Africa at large will find this volume very instructive as they forge educational systems that serve the needs of current and future generations of Africans.

How do governments in Africa make decisions about language? What does language have to do with state-building, and what impact might it have on democracy? This manuscript provides a longue durée explanation for policies toward language in Africa, taking the reader through colonial, independence, and contemporary periods. It explains the growing trend toward the use of multiple languages in education as a result of new opportunities and incentives. The opportunities incorporate ideational relationships with former colonizers as well as the work of language NGOs on the ground. The incentives relate to the current requirements of democratic institutions, and the strategies leaders devise to win elections within these constraints. By contrasting the environment faced by African leaders with that faced by European state-builders, it explains the weakness of education and limited spread of standard languages on the continent. The work combines constructivist understanding about changing preferences with realist insights about the strategies leaders employ to maintain power.