The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) humanitarian situation report for the North West and South West regions  indicates that only 46% of schools have remained open for the 2022-2023 school year.

The same report adds that only 54% of students are enrolled. This is due to the precarious security situation that has prevailed for years in the english speaking regions, where groups of secessionist fighters have been battling against the national army.

“The humanitarian situation in the Northwest and Southwest  regions remained dire, marked by continued violent attacks on schools and children, as well as on health care,” reads the report on the current situation in the two western regions of Cameroon.

The rise of irredentist discourse in these regions rhymes with the challenge to the authority of the government in Yaoundé. In fact, the approach of the secessionists is to fight the central power in order to gain independence with the creation of a new state. This is one of the reasons why public schools are particularly targeted by these secessionist fighters.

OCHA recalls that on 1 November last year, a secessionist fighter threatened all the teachers of a public secondary school in Kumbo, in the department of Bui, North West region. He demanded that all teachers stop teaching. He also demanded that parents withdraw their children from government schools and enrol them in public schools.