Cameroon - Education and Training Sector : Reform Options

GREE COVIR CONFIDINTIAL Report No. 10351-CH MICROFICHE COPY CONFIDENTIAL Report No. 10351-CM Type: (SEC) MARTINEZ, / X34734 / J8 103/ AFIPH EDUCATION AD na n SECTOR RPORN OPTIONS Merek 3I, i1i'-- Population and Rman Resources Diviaion Occidental ad Central Africa Department March 31, 1992 CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS Currency Unit - CFA Franc (CFAF) US$ 1.00 - 260 CFAF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS APE Parents'Associations CETIC-CETIF Four-year Technical Colleges CUSS University Centers for Health Sciences ENAM National College of Administration and Management ENIAET/ENIET Technical Teachers Training colleges ENS National Teachers Training Institute ENSET National Technical Teachers Training Institute ETS Education and Training System FNE National Employment Fund GDP Gross Domestic Product MESIRES Ministry of Science and Higher Education MINEDUC Ministry of National Education MINASCOF Ministry of Social and Women's Affairs MINSANTE Ministry of Health MTPS Ministry of Labor NGO Non Governmental Organization SAR Vocational Training Program FORE1DRD The report that follows capitalizes on data which has been accumulated in the course of education sector activities, and on more recent work which has been carried out by the inter-ministerial comittee ("Groupe de Pilotage*) ck'-rged with the preparation of a new policy and action plan for the reform of the education sector. Taken together, the various outputs yield a lucid and timely view of the sector's key constraints, and suggest strategic options for educational reform. This report is primarily meant to provide the Government of Cameroon with an external perspective on the country's education and training system, with a focus on the rationale and the direction of reform. In this context, it focusses on salient facts about the Cameroonian education and training system, rather than on details familiar to those intimately involved in the sector. Bank missions- visited Cameroon in April, 1991 and again in October, 1991. Members were Carmen Martinez (Task Manager) and Paul Hebert (Consultant, Higher Education). Missions were greatly assisted by Messrs. Ntangsi and Apara of the Bank's Resident Mission in Yaounde, and by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in areas of Technical Education and Vocational Training. Ms. Vaselopulos helped with the preparation of the report. Work was greatly facilitated by the willingness of government officials to share their work and to discuss sector issues. CAMEROON EDUCATION AND TRAINING SECTOR REFORM OPTIONS TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i I. THE MACRO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 II. CURRENT STATUS OF THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING SYSTEM . . . . . . 2 1. Government Policy in ETS Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. Level and Distribution of Public Spending. . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Organization and Management. . . . . . . . . . .4 4. Enrollments in Primary and Secondary Education .. 5 5. Higher Education Enrollments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6. Private Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7. Unit Cost Estimates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 III. EFFICIENCY AND EQUITY WITHIN THE EDUCATION SECTOR . . . . . . . 8 1. Efficiency in Primary and Secondary Education . . . . . . . .8 2. Efficiency in Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3. Equity within the Education System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 IV. THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING SYSTEM AND THE LABOR MARKET . . . . 12 1. Technical and Vocational Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2. Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 V. CURRENT AND FUTURE SCENARIOS: THE NEED FOR REFORM . . . . . . . 21 VI. THE REFORM IN THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING SECTOR . . . . . . . . 23 1. Financing Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . 24 2. Administrative Structure . . . . . . . . . 24 3. Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 4. Secondary Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 5. Technical and Vocational Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 5. Basic Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 6. The Role of the Private Sector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 7. Preparation of Investment and Current Budgets. . . . . . . . 31 Tables Table 1: Current education expenditures Table 2s Evolution in students enrollment by level of education and by sex Table 3: Enrollments in higher education Table 4s Costs of public education by level Table 5: Public and private educations distribution of students, teachers and classrooms Table 6: Distribution of scholarships abroad Table 7: Student teacher ratios in higher education Table 8: Evolution of candidates for the Baccalaureat and A Levels Table 9: Distribution of training centers by area of competence Table 10: Characteristics of vocational training centers according to legal framework Table 11: Communities contributions MEECUTIV SM4ARY 1. Cameroon has been facing an economic crisis since 1985. The effects of this situation on employment have been devastating. A freeze on public employment combined with a substantial contraction in activity in both agriculture and manufacturing has left a large part of the 12 million population, but particularly those leaving the school system, without possibilities of employment. While an increase in informal economic activity is expected, its growth is constrained by the high costs of labor, the still unrealist expectations of school leavers concerning employment prospects, and by its own non-absorptive capacity. 2. The situation is complicated by the country's demographic profile, which registers high fertility and rapid population growth. Taken together, these economic and demographic prospects signify a need to review education policy, particularly in the light of an education and training system (ETS) which, for some time now, has not responded to the country's de, -jmental needs and has faced deep management problems. 3. Continuation if present trends in the ETS would tax the country's resources beyond realistic possibilities, and most probably would compromise the ETS capabilities to contribute to restoring the country's competitiveness, beyond the short-term responses that can be elicited through macroeconomic management measures. In this context, the definition of a Human Resources Development policy, in which the reform of the ETS would play a key role, is essential. 4. This report argues that an adequate response would require substantial changes in the sector, including the expansion of private education. The most important issues to be addressed are in higher education and technical and vocational training. In higher education, key changes are needed in its structure and the system for its financing to re-direct output towards areas that can contribute in a more direct way to increase the country's productive capacity. In technical and vocational training, flexible and low-cost programs that meet employer requirements would be required as an alternative to secondary general education. At other levels, changes are also called for, particularly to reduce inefficiency and social selectivity to access. To achieve these reforms, a fundamental restructuring of the institutions involved in the management of the system is needed. And finally, there is a need to associate the partners concerned and to build a national consensus around the necessity of fundamental reforms, by including them as part of a national strategic agenda to be implemented with appropriate monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. 5. The reform of the ETS could not be achieved without also addressing the legal framework governing the civil service which establishes a direct relationship between the wage structure and the school certification system. It places the individual at a particular level of the civil service wage scale in accordance with the diploma he holds, not his level of responsibility. This relationship has had a direct impact on the private demand for secondary and higher education. A second area of the civil service framework which has affected the ETS negatively involves the automatic recruitment into the civil service of undergraduates from certain centers, Graduate and PhD scholarship recipients. A third one is the status of married women, who are required to follow their husbands in the event of his re-assignment to a different location. This has served to inflate the number of administrative staff in educational institutions. Administrative Structure 6. The 'future, rational development of the ETS would require the coordination of actions at various levels of the system and a continued evaluation process. Proposals to give greater autonomy to higher education would greatly reduce the need for a separate ministry of higher education. It is thus proposed that the Government should examine the merger of the two education ministries into a single entity, a National Education Ministry. The latter would be called to redefine its objectives and responsibilitios in the light of proposed reforms. Strategic planning, financial and human resource management capabilities would need to be developed. Higher Education 7. Cameroon's enrollments in higher education have tripled during the period 1980-1989. In 1989/90, 27,501 students were enrolled at the University of Yaounde, an additional 1,000 were at other higher education centers and some 3,600 students were abroad financed under Government scholarship grants. Outputs, driven in the past by public sector demand for employees, are excessive, and in general, they do not have the skills that are needed in the country. 8. The present level of public resource allocations for higher education raises serious issues of equity and promotes inefficiency. At the source of these problems has been excessive political interference in its management. There is sufficient evidence to tndicate that the number of graduates needs to be reduced, and that a aiminished output must be re-directed away from law and economics, literature and the social sciences, and into areas for which a present or future demand can be foreseen. 9. Key reform measures would be in the areas of governance, through greater autonomy of higher education centers; the introduction of a new financing system based on student fees and the reduction of Government subsidies, particularly by the reform of the scholarship system; internal efficiency, which could be addressed mainly by introducing a competitive entrance examination; and external efficiency, which could bm addressed through the review of academic programs in order to eliminate and/or restructure programs, or introduce new ones. Technical/Vocational Training 10. Th- technical/vocational training system of Cameroon counts with a large number of institutions. In general, these centers offer a wide array of programs and have the following characteristics: (a) a large number of centers (50Z) concentrate in areas which are saturated, iv such as auto mechanics, clothes manufacturing, and secretarial services; (b) training equipment is often lacking and is generally obsolete, particularly at public training institutions; (c) centers which perform the best are still relatively small; (d) centers which offer short courses, or courses on demand by employers are relatively few. In general, technical/vocational training does not provide the trainee with the work discipline or the social interaction skills that are needed for high productivity. Finally, the relatively small number of individuals that are trained saggests that the informal sector remains an important source of training. 11. The more recent creation of the National Employment Fund (FNE) and its nascent relationship with private sector employers and with training centers could provide a framework for re-directing technical and vocational training policy. A new policy should consider FNE as its main instrument, through the creation of a training fund, designed to assist both private and public institutions to develop the type of programs which would provide a better match between employer's needs and training output in a flexible and low-cost manner. A second major policy change could be to convert five of the six new technical lycees to post-secondary training centers that would provide formal and non-formal training for a fee. Primary and General Secondary education 12. Net primary school enrollments are among the higheat in Sub- Saharan Africa and stand at 84 percent. The evolution of secondary education has been dramatic, with average annual growth of 7 percent during the last fifteen years, and net enrollments stand at about 25 percent. In primary education, the high enrollment ratio indicates that Cameroon's efforts to provide universal education have succeeded. Gender data shows that there are no significant impediments of access to schools by female studentss male students represent about 56 percent of all primary and secondary education students, against 44 percent for females. But information on survival and repetition rates provides a very different picture, indicating that efficiency is extremely low. Several constraints contribute to this. Key are critical shortcomings in areas of management, which have resulted in deteriorating infrastructures, high student/teacher ratios (which show important disparities between levels and regione), inadequate availability of teaching materials, libraries and books, and the absence of training for school inspactors, managers, and teachers. 13. Transition rates from primary to secondary education and from secondary to higher education are low. Poor schooling conditions already indicated contribute in a very substantial way to these. Inherent in the situation is a high degree of social selectivity, as students most adversely affected are outside major urban areas, and are likely to be in lower income groups. 14. From a policy standpoint, the Government needs to decide on the type of interventions which are warranted to reduce overall inefficiency and social selectivity, taking into account at the same v time the constraints that are imposed by the eonomy itself. Key interventions may bo necessary both to reinforce primary and general secondary educational programs throiigh the re-examination of curricula and the examination system, and to institute programs to improve the quality of teaching. Community and Private Sector Roles 15. Wre recently, the Government has made efforts to seek a partnership with various groups, including Parent's Associations and local communities to finance pre-school, primary and secondary education programs. The communities have responded in a way as to allow them to participate in both the school management and financing process. In 1989190, these contributions were equivalent to about 1OZ of the current budget for primary and secondary education. This evolution has also reinforced the decentralization process. These trends have served to demonstrate the capacity of the population to pay for education services and provide a clear justification for private sector expansion in education to address future expansion needs. Conclusion 16. Cameroon's education and training system is in deep crisis and needs to be redressed in a fundamental way. It is recommended that the reform process takes a top-level-down approach, as the higher education system is likely to influence other levels of education. Through such reform, higher education output could be made to better match public and private returns. This would require a cutback of public spending, mainly through the reform of the scholarship policy and the introduction of a student finance mechanism, accompanied by investments in the quality of higher education. It would also contribute to decrease demand for secondary general education, and would raise awareness of the population of the need for flexible and low-cost programs in technical and vocational training as an alternative for general education. 17. Social selectivity issues would need to be addressed at all levels of the education system, but particularly as regards primary and secondary education by addressing problems which are the cause of low efficiency. 18. Reforms are needed to achieve both social justice and economic goals. The Government has shown commitment to elucidating the issues and identifying options, as evidenced by its initial policy work. It needs to refine its options and consult all partners involved to arrive at a broad consensus on the nature and pace of ETS reforms. The international donor community should also be associated with these efforts as their financial and technical support would be needed. 19. The attached matrix summarizes the principal reform measures proposed. CAMIEROO POLICY MATRIX POLICY AREA ODJECTIVES AND TARGT I ACTIONS ALREADY TAKEN AND CTIONS Ti UNDER PREPARATION Edmalion and Tralag Se~ (ETS) Ensure a mor rMational allocation of publik Settarges. 1993-1995 cipenditure in BTS Delop an ETS iategy whies consliet FomalGoveannent adoption of the ETS Saden~en S 1 with ceomulo dvenloinnet needs- describing ,te straegy and preetg an a~ plan with a timetable for its implementation. Rationkalie the manageent of lte ET*to Merger of the ~w d ~ainnul mini~tries (Highem Marel 1993 achieve cohemnoe ud n~duc administraive Education and National Eduaion) into a single tay, 09818. the National Education Miniry. Developmet of strauegic plaming, rmania and humn rem~ _______man_gemeutcapalties. Reforn of the higher eduation system to Pul autonomy of the University of Yao~nde and of other Marek 1993 bnprove its Nst effctiveness and $as higher kamning ceners. relevane to labor markmt needs. Establishenut of a university fe a~ytem at the University Begining of the of Y~ounde aud all other higher edlocti~m kearning 199394 cmool centers- year and colatinued evemy year thrAer. Rbduction of Govenment mubsidies to higher edu~ation Beginning of tho inough tr, rehneturing of the r:holanhip system. 1993194 school year &Md cotinued every ____ ____ ____ __ year tereager. 2 POUCY AREA OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS ACTIONS ALREADY TAKEN AND ACI1ONS TIMING UNDER PREPARATION If~roducion of a competitive entrance examnation at the Begining ofd University of Yande and all other higher Odeaio 1993/94 school lri en . year and year *hereaer. Reform of academic programs. Restructure, elminate or Beginning of te cate poga^ to improve overa relevance of higher 1993194 school educatio. year Affirmative act*n prog~us for schorships for women in higher education. Implement a new technical and vocational Establishment of a training fund managed by the National Septe*er 1994 training policy which ims at &tablishng a Employment Fund (FNE) to &iance public and private brad menu of low ost training possibiliies to tiraning centen which have ratructured the training provide a bemer match between mployer's progras in accordmnce with the new poicy. needs and training ouput.l Conversion of rve or six new secondary tecknicat lyedes Beginning oh into po-secondary traig cenotern ffering both fonne 1994/95 school and non-foral tuaining. year. Improve the effsiency of primary sid Rstructuring of primary and seondary general education Beginnng of dh decodary education. curric~la and examninhain system. 1994/95 school _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ year. Expnd privat o*atfion at af leves of the New regulatory framework for privat education which March 1993 systen. includes lberalikation of school fees. Establihet of a nationsl achievement measurenct Beginning of the system which applies to both public and private 1994/95 school ~ du~-in. year. nvromental To intenaalize environmental awareness and Specific provisions for incluion of environmeual Beginning of the Alucaion knowedge within the fornal education system. education within the fannal eurricula to be included in 94/95 school the National Environmental Action Plan and inplemented year. together with the åbow overan retructuring of dhe primary and seconday general education cuicul. 3 POLICY AREA OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS ACTIONS ALREADY TÅKEN AND ACTIONS IING UNDER PREPARATON Civa Service Changs hi civil service code to deli~k the Revision of civil service code to i*~od.ce ch~ge. Døl ain school cerifiesion sysican and the wses 1993. atructure: elimiamt auto~atio rcruitmet frm higher du<ion to the cii ervie and r*vise the at of mariod wmmin id the eiv service. I. TS HACRO-SCONCHIC CONTEXT 1.1 - The Cameroon economy grew at about 7 percent per annum throughout the 1970's and until 1985. A sharp decline in the price of its major exports (petroleum, coffee and cocoa) triggered a severe financial and economic crisis, which in turn exposed a structurally weak economy. Between 1985 and 1987, Cameroon's export price indices in CFAF terms fell by 65 percent for oil, 24 percent for cocoa, 11 percent for coffee and 20 percent for rubber, causing a 41 percent deterioration in the terms of trade. Economic uncertainties and uncompetitive domestic interest rates encouraged capital flight. This, coupled with the withdrawal of Government deposits, led to a sharp contraction in the liquidity of the domestic banking system, which in turn, further constrained economic activity. At present, the country is in a deep recession. The situation is characterized by lack of competitiveness, partly but not wholly due to movements in the real exchange rate and other factors. This translates into stagnation in traditional agricultural crops, a declining manufacturing sector, and illiquidity of the financial sector. 1.2 Growth has now been negative since 1986, with the exception of 1991 when increases in oil prices temporarily boosted the value added in this sector enough to cancel out the frll in non-oil GDP. The Government's initial response was to slash investment expenditure and introduce new revenue measures. Revenue increase objectives, however, could not be met given the slow response of the economy. The Government also sought to improve external competitiveness through compression of domestic wages and price levels. Although prices and incomes have been halved in the agricultural sector, the real depreciation so far achieved has been insufficient to improve competitiveness and restore growth. 1.3 As Cameroon is a member of the franc zone, its exchange rate is tied to the French franc. Since the exchange rate is fixed, internal adjustment is the only available strategy. The demand compression inherent in this approach undermines growth prospects. The strategy is further constrained by inefficiency in the manufacturing sector, high costs of labor and energy, an oversized and inefficient public and parapublic sector, and the slowness of response in agriculture. In light of the current strategy, the economic outlook is not bright: GDP is expected to continue to decline until the mid-nineties, and then remain flat until the year 2000. 1.4 The effect of the recession on employment has been devastating: a freeze on public employment combined with a substantial contraction in activity in both agriculture and manufacturing has left a large part of the population, but most particularly those leaving the school system, without possibilities for employment in the modern sector. While an increase in informal economic activity is expected, its growth is constrained by the high costs of labor, by the still unrealistic expectations of school leavers concerning employment prospects, and its own absorptive capacity. 1.5 The above situation is further complicated by the country's demographic profile, which registers high fertility and high population growth. Taken together, these economic and demographic prospects 2 signify, inter alia, the need to review education policy, particularly in the light of an education system which, for some time now, has not responded to the country's developmental needs and has faced deep management problems. 1.6 Cameroon, with nearly 12 million inhabitants, is one of Africa's most diverse countries in terms of languages, people and natural resources. It has experienced a rapid rural-urban migration. At present, 40 percent of the population lives in urban areas and that proportion is expected to reach 50 percent by the turn of the century. Creation of employment opportunities to a large urban population should be one of the Government's major concerns. It is undeniable that appropriate macro-economic management policies will be necessary to foster growth, but these would be insufficient if they did not explicitly include a relevant human resource development policy, and within such policy, a definition of the key role that the education and training sector is to play. II. CURRENT STATUS OF THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING SYSTE1 2.1 The structure of Cameroon's education and training system (ETS) reflects its colonial past: an anglophone system is featured in the West and Northwest Provinces, and a francophone system in the remaiLng eight other provinces. The Government of Cameroon has always considered this sector as one of its most important priorities, and within the ETS, the highest priority has been assigned to primary education. In this context, the Government has sought to provide universal education at the primary level, and to increase access to all other levels of education by large segments of the population. Consistent with these objectives, the country counts with a substantial public and private .educational infrastructure and human resource network distributed all over the territory. 2.2 These efforts have produced remarkable achievements in terms of access to education. Between 1960 and 1984, the number of children attending primary schools quadrupled, reaching 1.6 million, and representing a net enrollment ratio of 782, although there were wide differences among provinces, particularly in the north. Today, the net primary education enrollment ratio stands at 83% and is one of the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Secondary education and higher education enrollments grew at a high pace, and stand at 35% and 52, respectively. Adult literacy indices increased from 19% in 1960 to 562 in 1985. 2.3 The above achievements, however, have not been matched by efforts to deliver quality services, particularly by the public ETS. Public administration issues have contributed to this situation, and in particular, the framework that governs the civil service, has negatively affected the ETS in three main areast The first relates to the direct relationship of the school certification system and the wage structure. Such a system places the individual at a particular level of the civil service wage scale in accordance with the diploma he holds, not his level of responsibility or experience. This relationship has had a direct impact on private demand for secondary and higher education. The 3 second involves the automatic recruitment into the civil service of graduates from CUSS, ENS and ENAM. This has indeed hindered performance objectives in higher education and in the civil service recruitment process. The third relates to the status of married women in the civil service, and the requirement that she should follow the husband in the event of his re-assignment to a different location. This has served to inflate the number of administrative staff in educational institutions, as a large number of primary and secondary school teachers are women. 2.4 To provide a context for the proposals in subsequent chapters, salient features of the ETS, as well as key constraints are set out below. II.1 Government Policy in ETS Financing 2.5 Unlike many Sub-Saharan Countries, the public and private ETS structure which existed in Cameroon's colonial period was continued after independence. The public ETS was to provide free education and training to the vast majority of the population at all levels of the system (supplemented by generous scholarship grants in higher education), while private schools, mostly religious and assisted by the State through subsidies, would provide pre-school, primary and secondary education to that part of the population that could pay for these services. In reality, the rapid growth of enrollments taxed the public ETS to the point that the quality in the delivery of education services was felt to be inadequate by the local communities. These have, as early as 1970, participated in the financing of education services, through albeit small contributions in the form of matriculation and examination fees. 11.2 Level and Distribution of Public Spending 2.6 During the decade of the 1970's, a vigorous expansion of public physical facilities took place at all levels of the system, and Government expenditure in education and training rose rapidly, from CFAF 23 billion in 1976/77, to CFAF 140.7 billion in 1986/87. Expenditure in education was equal to about 18 percent of total current expenditure net of debt service. From 1987/88 to 1990/91 investment in the sector concentrated largely on construction of secondary technical education establishments. These investments, however, were costly, with low rates of return. 2.7 Today, while investment in new infrastructure is relatively modest, the current public budget for education and training continues to be considerable, and is of CFAF 106 billion (Table 1). It is at this point the largest in the public administration, representing close to 30 percent of the total current budget, net of interest on debt. Pre- school and primary education, which account for nearly 81 percent of all stadents in the public system, receive only about 45 percent of current resources; secondary education, including technical and vocational training, with 18 percent of all students, receives some 25 percent of resources; and higher education, with 1 percent of all students, receives 30 percent of resources. As can be seen, education expenditure is highly skewed in favor of higher education. By way of comparison, 4 public expenditure for education and training in Asian countries is of the order of 13 percent of total expenditure, and is on average skewed in favor of primary education (about 50 percent of resources), with less than 20 percent of total resources allocated to higher education. 2.8 Such high level of overall spending, however, is partly indicative of poor sector management. Personnel and personnel-related expenditure is of the order of 75 percent of total current expenditure, and one third of these resources are for salaries of administrative personnel; scholarship allocations represent 20 percent of total expenditure; while the remaining 5 percent is for subsidies to private schools, and the operation of university centers and schools. The present distribution of resources provides little for teacher training, learning materials, and maintenance of school facilities which benefit the quality of education services. 11.3 Organization and Management 2.9 Formal education is managed by two separate ministries: the Ministry of National Education (MINEDUC), charged with primary and secondary education, including technical education and vocational training. MINEDUC is decentralized, having ten regional offices. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MESIRES), is directly responsible for the management of grants for scholarships abroad, and for supervising the higher education system. Higher education learning centers are in principle decentralized public institutions under the supervisory responsibility of MESIRES. In addition, the Ministry of Labor (MTPS) is responsible for short-term vocational training for the job market. 2.10 Seen from a viewpoint of management efficiency, the existence of several agencies with overlapping responsibilities, and poor established lines of coordination has fostered the growth of individual sub-sectors to respond to population pressures, rather than the rational planning of a sector conceived as an integrated system. It has promoted competing demands for scarce resources, requiring the office of the President of the Republic to arbitrate, thus reinforcing an already excessively centralized decision-making system. This, coupled with institutional deficiencies regarding human resources, infrastructure and financial management led to inadequate education and training programs, crowded classrooms, deteriorating infrastructure, high student/teacher ratios which show important disparities both regionally and between educational levels, inadequate availability of teaching materials, libraries and books, and the absence of training for school inspectors, managers, teachers and professors. 2.11 This is particularly evident when one examines the distribution of education personnel, which allocates over 30Z of all human resources (including higher education) to administrative positions. Such a heavy administrative layer contributes to the inefficiency of the operation of the sector, adds considerable costs to the delivery of services, and absorbs resources that could otherwise be utilized to improve them.- Indeed, MINEDUC's 52,000 staff represent an expenditure of the order of 94 percent of MINEDUC's current budget 5 (CFAF 70.8 billion) and more than one third of these costs represent administrative charges. The 1,100 staff at MESIRES is assigned to administrative duties at a cost of nearly CPAF 3 billion. MESIRES' only direct operational responsibility is the management of the external scholarship system. Its arbitration in the management of higher learning centers, particularly the University of Yaounde, further exacerbates the University's weaknesses. Finally, the near-absence of communication between MINEDUC and MTPS as regards vocational training has resulted in the proliferation of vocational training centers that are ill-equipped to provide training for the labor market. 11.4 Enrollments in Primary and Secondary Education 2.12 The pre-school enrollment ratio is of 12 percent at a national level and is highly concentrated in urban areas. Enrollment growth in primary education has been dramatic. Over the 1960-1983 period, enrollments quadrupled, reaching a total of 1.6 million. In 1989, primary education enrollments totaled 1.9 million, and represented a net enrollment ratio of 84 percent. 2.13 In primary education, the high net enrollment ratio indicates that Cameroon's efforts to provide universal education have generally paid off, although some variations can be found at the provincial level. In the late 1970's, the northern province lagged behind with a net enrollment ratio of 30%. The low ratio reflected the near absence of girls from school. The province is largely Muslim, and girls were kept from formal education to assist in household chores. In the early 1980's, the Government carried out an intense campaign to educate parents on the advantages of women's education. It argued that a lack of education would pose an impediment to marriage:. As males were increasingly better educated, they would seek to marry women that had a comparable education. The campaing was extremely successful, and today, that region's net enrollment ratio is close to 701. In general, gender data for the period 1983/84 - 1988/89 shows that there are no substantial impediments of access to school by femaless male students represent about 56 percent of all primary education students, against 44 percent for females. This profile compares favorably with countries in Asia, and is better than in some areas of Latin America. Information on survival and repetition rates, which are discussed separately, provide a more relevant picture of the situation. 2.14 The evolution of secondary education was even more dramatic, with an annual average growth of 7 percent during the 1960-1983 period. In 1990, secondary school enrollment ratios stood at about 35 percent. Table 2 presents student enrollments by level of education, and by gender for the period 1983/84 - 1988/89. Growth in this level of education was fueled by the expansion of the public sector, and by a civil code which links wage levels to school certificates. The low internal efficiency of public primary education, however, functions as a highly selective mechanism, as only about 62 percent complete the sixth grade, and only about 35 percent of the cohort continues into secondary education. The baccalaureat and A Level examination also serve as an indirect mechanism of selection for entry into higher education. A more recent limiting factor is the economy itself: whereas in the past nearly every secondary and higher education graduate was assured of a job by expanding public and industrial sectors, this has not been the case since 1984. The distribution of secondary education students by gender is comparable to that of primary education. 2.15 Despite a high level of investment in technical and vocational training, growth in enrcilments has been uneven, and suffered a slight decrease in 1988/89. Enrl)Ilments in technical and vocational training represent about 22 percen of total secondary school enrollm'nts. 11.5 Higher Education Enrollments 2.16 Under the administrative supervision of MESIRES, a number of public institutions, comprising the University of Yaounde, the university centers at Douala, Dschang, Ngaoundere and Buea, and research centers provide higher education. Various other ministries operate small specialized centers to train personnel in public enterprises. In October 1991, a private Catholic University opened in Yaounde, but little information is available on its operation. This report will examine those institutione under the supervision of MESIRES. 2.17 University enrollments have been exploding. The volume and trend in enrollments among higher learning institutions appear in Table 3. University of Yaounde enrollments rose from 9,562 in 1980, to 13,496 in 1984, and 27,501 in 1989. An additional 1,000 students were at other higher learning centers, and 3,600 students were studying at higher learning centers abroad. The growth in enrollments in national institutions in the latter part of the decade was of 13 percent per year. The growth pattern of the student population is largely determined by enrollments in the three faculties of the University of Yaounde (88 percent of the total in 1989). University centers in Douala, Dschang, Ngaoundere, and Buea experienced more modest growth, of the order of 7 percent per year. 2.18 Such rapid growth can be explained by the absence of entry requirements at the University of Yaounde and the existence of a generous scholarship system. All that is required is a pass grade in the secondary education final examination (Baccalaureat in the case of the francophone system, two subjects at the A levels plus four subjects at the 0 levels in the case of the Anglophone system). The more modest pattern of growth in other university centers is due to the existence of a competitive entrance examination. A large number of students taking the entrance examination are second year University of Yaounde students. 2.19 While overall levels of enrollment may be modest in terms of access by the total population in the relevant age group, a more pertinent question may be the relationship of higher education to labor markets and the economy in general, and the costs associated with this sub-sector. 7 11.6 Private Education 2.20 The private sector is remarkably active. Data on the public- private composition of school enrollments is also presented in Table 2. In 1988/89, the last year for which complete data is available, enrollments in private secondary education were 44 percent of total secondary school enrollments, private primary school enrollments 30 percent, and private pre-school enrollments 36 percent. In the past, privaze school expansion was assisted by Government subsidies, which were in the order of CFAF 8 billion up until 1985, and totalled CFAF 6 billion in 1989/90. These subsidies have since then been reduced, and in 1991/92, stood at about CFAF 4 billion. Further expansion of private education is constrained by a ceiling on school fees established by the Government. School fees range from CFAF 6,000 to 46,000 per year, and exemptions to established ceilings, when a specific school can demonstrate it has met criteria set by MINEDUC, are a rare occurrence. 2.21 The overall performance of private schools is mixed. Private religious schools are able to maintain higher standards when compared to public schools, and private secular schools. The reasons are several. First and foremost, religious schools are highly selective in student recruitment. They receive the largest share of Government subsidies. Their broader organizational structure allows them to equip and staff more adequately. In sum, they are better prepared to meet MINEDUC's requirements on fee-ceiling exemptions. Private secular schools were established at a much later date. Their weaker financial base, inability to get an adequate share of Government subsidies, and the ceilings on fees established by the Government results in greater reliance on larger numbers of students in the classroom to meet financial goals. This means less selectivity, which translates in less homogeneity in the classroom and a poorer performance, when compared to religious schools. 11.7 Unit Cost Estimates 2.22 Unit costs present a dysfunctional picture in the public ETS. Estimates of unit costs between 1988-1991 are presented in Table 4, and are based on public expenditure data and enrollments at the varius levels of education. Expenditure figures are based exclusively on current budget data. Primary education unit costs averaged CFAF 29,900 in 1988/89. Unit costs of general secondary education were of the order of CFAF 60,620, double the unit costs of primary education. Secondary technical/vocational training unit costs were of CFAF 319,000, or more than ten times more. In higher education, unit costs averaged CFAF 1,052,450, or thirty-five times higher. Expressed as a percentage of per capita GDP, primary education unit costs averaged 11 percent, secondary general education 21 percent, secondary technical/vocational 113 percent, and higher education 373 percent. 2.23 The low unit costs of primary education correspond to a combination of high teacher/student ratios and a relatively low wage scale within the civil service. General secondary education unit costs reflect substantially lower student teacher ratios and are in line with costs recorded in Sub-Sahara Africa. The substantially higher unit costs of technical/vocational training are fundamentally the result of 8 lower teacher/student ratios. The staggering average unit costs of higher education are largely a function of the current scholarship policy, and to a lesser extent, high wages for university staff. Average unit costs are also inflated by administrative costs generated by the existence of MESIRES and the cost of scholarships abroad. They also hide wide divergences in unit costs between centers. 2.24 Within higher education, available current budget data permit to derive unit costs of individual university centers. The results are shown below. They exhibit wide variations among institutions, ranging from CFAF 4 million per student at the Ngaoundere university center, to CFAP 13.8 million per student at the Dschang university center. These extraordinary unit costs, which are directly linked with the low number of students attending these centers, points to the need to examine the basis for their continued operation. UNIT COSTS OF SELECTED UNIVERSITY CENTERS 1989/90 Currol.. Average budget Number unit cost Center (CFAF alIIlIons) of students (CFAF/Student) Yaoundi 17,877.0 27,500 681,890 sues 849.1 61 5,722,950 Ngsoundere 1,882.0 420 8,957,140 Dachang 2,115.0 18 18,828,529 Douala 2,122.8 488 4,878,290 Source: Ministry of Finance budget data/Mission estimates III. EFFICIENCY AND EQUITY WITHIN THE EDUCATION SECTOR 3.1 Cameroon's ETS should be evaluated on the basis of its efficiency and equity, and on its relevance to the labor market. This chapter will deal with problems of efficiency and equity. III.1 Efficiency in primary and secondary education 3.2 Detailed data on students progress in school are not readily available. Nevertheless, several overall indicators can be utilized to measure the efficiency of the public primary and secondary school system. 3.3 Repetition and drop-out rates are extremely high in primary and secondary education. In primary education, these rates differ widely between the francophone and anglophone systems. In both cases, however, the average length of schooling substantially exceeds the standard norm. In 1988/89, repetition and drop-out rates were of 33.4 and 6.6 percent, respectively. Only 61 percent of a particular cohort completed sixth grade. In the anglophone system, repetition and drop-out rates were considerably lower, and were of 20.6 and 4.4 percent respectively. About 74 percent completed sixth grade. 9 3.4 The same pattern continues in secondary education, but the differences between the francophone and anglophone systems become more pronounced, with the corresponding impact on the average length of schooling and costs per graduate. Repetition and drop-out rates were of the order of 23 and 12.4 percent, respectively in 1988/89 in the francophone system, and 65 percent completed the last year of secondary education. In the anglophone system, these rates were of 9.5 and 6.9 percent respectively, and about 84 percent reached the last year. More important, however, are the large numbers of last-year students which fail the Baccalaureat and A Level examination. Table 9 shows that in 1987, some 18,000 secondary education students in the francophone system, and another 5,000 in the anglophone system took the examination: only 6,500 and 1,800, respectively, obtained the certificate. By 1989, candidates totaled 25,000 (francophone) and 8,000 (anglophone), but only 9,500 and 2,500, respectively, obtained the certificate. 3.5 Data on technical/vocational training is limited. Nevertheless, information on technical colleges (first cycle of technical education) points to a repetition and drop-out rate of 16.5 and 13 percent respectively in the francophone system, and of 7.4 and 9.4 respectively in the anglophone system. Pass rates were of 73 and 84 percent, respectively. 3.6 The variations between the two systems can be explained by the degree of emphasis which is placed on examinations: whereas the francophone system tests students on an annual basis to determine success or failure, the anglophone system limits repetition to a minimum on a year-to-year basis and places a major emphasis on examinations at the end of each cycle. These differences, however, are more relative than reals while the costs of producing a graduate are substantially lower in the anglophone system, transition rates remain dismally low in both systems. These outcomes viould indicate that there is a need to further evaluate the causes oi poor performance. 3.7 Several constraints contribute to low overall efficiency. Key among these are critiLal shortcomings in areas of management. These result in crowded classrooms and deteriorating infrastructures, high student/teacher ratios which show important disparities between regions and among levels of education, inadequate availability of teaching materials, libraries and books, and the absence of training for school inspectors, managers, teachers and professors. 3.8 Information on public and private education, including the distribution of students, teachers and classrooms, as well as the appropriate ratios by level of education, by region, and type of system for 1989/90 is found in Table 6. In general, both public pupil/teacher and pupil/classroom ratios are high in primary education, presenting a national average of 54/1 and 56/1, respectively. Nevertheless, considerable disparities exist between regions. The highest ratios are found in the provinces of the Extreme North, North, West and Southwest. At the general secondary level, student teacher ratios drop considerably showing a national average of 33/1, while student/classroom ratios remain very high at 63/1. Both student/teacher and student/classroom ratios drop to very low levels, with ratios of 9/1 and 23/1, 10 respectively in post-secondary vocational training, and 14/1 - 46/1 in technical education. The recent completion of six technical lycees placed in strategic provinces would bring these ratios well below their current levels. 111.2 Ffficiency in Higher Education 3.9 The pattern of student flows is important when assessing internal efficiency. In Cameroon, the transition from secondary school to higher education is carried out with enormous difficulties as, in general, students have not received adequate skills at the secondary school level. The problem is compounded by the absence of a selection process at the University of Yaounde, which absorbs most secondary school graduates. This contributes to high failure rates at the end of the first year of studies, particularly in the traditional faculties. Failure rates range from 60 percent in the Faculty of Liberal Arts, to over 80 percent in the Faculty of Sciences. In other centers, the problem of inadequacy is masked by the high selectivity of the admission process, which requires a competitive entrance examination. In practice, however, a large number of entrants are former University of Yaounde students who are accepted as first year undergraduates. 3.10 Outcome indicators provide evidence of the extent of the problem. During the second half of the 1980's, failure rates increased the mean cycle cost time for the three year undergraduate program at the faculties of Liberal Arts, Law and Economics, and Sciences of the University of Yaounde, to 7.7, 8.9 and 18.2 years respectively. This contrasts with cycle cost times which range from 3.6 to 4.8 years in other centers. Expressed in a different manner, and based on an average unit cost per university student of CFAF 1,052,450, the cost per graduate in the same faculties was of the order of CFAF 8.1, 9.4 and 19.2 million respectively. This compared with an average CFAF 5.1 million at other centers (Table 4). These costs per graduate are likely to be highly underestimated, however, as students are able to switch to other disciplines after one or two years at the University. 3.11 Linked to high costs per graduate is the current scholarship policy, which provides financial assistance to higher education students at home and abroad. This assistance is not well targeted and is inadequately managed, resulting in continued subsidization of non- performing students. Expenditure for scholarships has been growing at a steady pace, from CFAF 10.5 billion in 1988, to CFAF 21 billion in 1990, representing 20 percent of total public expenditure in education. National scholarships represent about 67 percent of total scholarship expenditure, while scholarships abroad stand at about 33 percent. National scholarship expenditure is managed directly by university centers. In 1990, some 20,000 students received scholarship grants. In principle, priority is given to technical and science fields (75 percent), followed by management, law and economics (20 percent), and liberal arts and social sciences (5 percent). For degree level courses, scholarships are granted automatically, regardless of performance up to a master degree level. There is some selection for PhD programs. Ninety percent of all scholarships are for undergraduate programs, and 10 percent for post-graduate studies. Both masters and PhD scholarship 11 recipients become civil servants at the time they qualify for a scholarship. In the recent past, some improvement had been achieved in scholarship management concerning suspension of grants to non-performing students. Nevertheless, the present political/economic situation has forced the Government to relax proceduras again. In the case of scholarships abroad, a National Scholarship Board meets twice a year to select candidates according to criteria which includes prior acceptance to a higher learning center, and above-average results in the baccalaureat or A levels. In reality, criteria are not rigorously observed. Scholarship grants are managed by MESIRES. On average, about 600 new scholarships are awarded each year, and some 3,600 students enjoy scholarship grants. Table 7 provides the distribution of students abroad by fields of study and by country. It shows that the largest share of scholarship grants are in the fields of applied sciences, medicine, arts and social sciences. The majority are for undergraduate programs. Taken as a group, only a small percentage of students abroad are receiving training in disciplines which are not offered in Cameroon. Average per student costs are of the order of CFAF 700,000 per year in Cameroon, compared to CFAF 1,933,700 abroad. 3.12 A second and equally important indicator is the ratio of students to academic staff. Student/teacher ratios for the faculties of the University of Yaounde and for other centers are presented in Table 8. These figures indicate that the growth of academic staff has been as haphazard as growth of the student population. This is demonstrated by the Faculty of Law and Economics, where the student/ teachet ratio has been above 70/1 throughout the 1980's, and currently stands at 112/1. Student/teacher ratios in the other two faculties stand at below 30/1. Specialized centers of the University, such as the teacher training college (ENSP), and the medical school (CUSS) are well below 20/1. Other university centers, particularly at Bueu, Dschang, and Ngaoundere have ratios which stand between 5/1 and 7/1. 3.13 Finally, efficiency must be measured in terms of the optimal utilization of physical facilities: the University of Yaounde, originally built for some 7,500 students, now houses about 30,000. The university centers at Ngaoundere, Dschang and Busa, completed in the mid-1980's with capacities ranging between 2,000 and 3,000 students, count with 420, 153 and 61 students, respectively. 111.3 Equity within the Education. System 3.14 Equity is determined by the structure of enrollments in various levels of education and by public spending per student. In Cameroon, the system manifests a high degree of social selectivity, as demonstrated by the pattern of transition from primary to secondary education, from secondary to higher education, and by the share of public spending allocated to the best educated percentage of the population. Equity is also determined by the degree of access to education by women. 3.15 Poor schooling conditions, which affect learning outcomes, contribute in a very substantial way to low transition rates. Students which are the most affected are outside urban areas and concern lower 12 income groups. Social selectivity begins in primary education, with an overall survival rate of little over 60 percent, and wide differences among regions. In terms of continued access to the education system, transition from the last year of the primary school cycle (6 years in the francophone system, 7 in the anglophone) to the start of lower secondary school represents a major selection point. Only about 35 percent of the eligible population meets criteria for access to secondary education, or chooses to continue. Social selectivity continues at the secondary education level with drop-out rates which range from nearly 7 percent (general education) to 9.4 percent (technical) in the anglophone system, and from 12 to 13 percent respectively in the francophone system. A major final point of selectivity is the Baccalaureat and A Level examinations, which leave a large number of secondary education students with few opportunities in a very limited job market. 3.16 Aggregate figures hide large difference in performance and pass rates between boys and girls, and between occupational groups. Studies on the subject carried out in the early 1980's show that the major divide between the sexes is among the children of small farmers, where boys have the highest and girls have the lowest pass rates. Rural living and schooling constitute educational disadvantages. This is demonstrated from the performance of candidates from village schools, who had a pass rate of about one fifth that of those from a Yaounde primary school. In the urban context, sex and class backgroud are clearly related. At the bottom of the occupational ladder (semi-and unskilled manual labor fathers), the variations in pass rates of boys and girls are low, indicating that social disadvantages at this level exclude both boys and girls from competition for secondary places. At the top levels (elite and large trader fathers), girls are able to compete almost in equal terms to their brothers. 3.17 Issues of equity are most clearly demonstrated by the overall levels of expenditure in higher education, and by the Government's scholarship policy. As indicated earlier, 30Z of all resources of the public ETS go to the 1 percent of the total student population in higher education. This group is largely representative of middle class white collar workers and elite groups. Even in this context, male students ais more likely to be scholarship recipients than female students. IV. THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING SYSTEM AND THE LABOR MARKET 4.1 The evaluation of the ETS would not be complete without examining its linkages to the labor market, and the constraints which are established by the economy itself. A fundamental objective of any modern school system is to produce employable school leavers. A key issue is the match, volume and type of the education system's output, and the demand for educated and trained labor. In this context, it is useful to recall that, up until 1985, the Cameroonian economy had experienced a steady growth of about 7 percent per year. The expansion of secondary general, technical and higher education occurred under those circumstances, and was based on the traditional method of manpower forecasting which targeted educational outputs to the sectors with the 13 most dynamic growth outside the agricultural sector: the civil service and industry. 4.2 Cameroon's largest employer, the civil service, established a direct relationship between the wage scale and the school certification system. Both parapublic and private enterprises were required to follow suit. As a result, secondary general and higher education were perceived by the population as a continuum, and social demand was further enhanced by a generous scholarship grant system. As the overall efficiency of the system deteriorated, secondary general education expanded the types of baccalaureat certificates that could be obtained in the francophone system, further fueling the expansion of higher education. Technical education was seen by a large number of students as a roundabout way to obtain access to the university. 4.3 Civil service wage levels are higher than those of the private modern sector. At the lower levels of the wage scale, the classification (Category D) of the civil service which corresponds to a primary education graduate, or non-skilled worker, is 70Z higher than in the private sector. The following category (Category C) of the civil service, or skilled worker with a secondary education certificate, is about 34Z higher than in the private sector. The table below provides information on public and private sector wages in comparable categories as of 1985. CAMEROON 1985 SALARY SCALE (Monthly base salaries in CFAF) 1/ Public Private Classification sector sector (Douala) Non-qual if led 92,56 80,004 Qualified worker 68,009 48,865 Technician 100,547 68,971 Spcilalized technician 141,772 92,904 Middle level manager 198,905 144,788 Manager 225,765 NA Top manager 475,000 NA S Base * 30 benefits: transportation, children allowance (can be as high as 60,000 CFAF). 4.4 Yet, as early as in 1984, only 22 percent of the labor force was employed outside agriculture, and the share of industry was of only 9 percent. The large numbers of graduates from the ETS were already experiencing difficulties in finding employment, both as a result of the constraints of the economy, and because education programs were inadequate. It is now clear that the public education system, particularly through the scholarship policy, has served as a way of maintaining the unemployment problem in check. This situation is, however, no longer sustainables the modern economy is unable to absorb the present output of school graduates which no longer corresponds to the needs of the country. 14 4.5 The rest of this section will focus in particular on the examination of the technical/vocational training sub-system, and of higher education in light of their overall impact on the population of employable age, and on public expenditure. IV.1 Technical and Vocational Training 4.6 Past development of the technical/vocational training system took place in the context of the development of an import-substitution industrial sector, controlled largely by the State. This sector is declining under heavy competition from neighbors outside the CFAF zone. Informal sector activities, have, in large part, provided some training and employment opportunities which are not present in the modern industrial sector. This market is, however, limited in line with overall economic constraints. 4.7 There have been recent attempts on the part of the Government to initiate a serious examination of this sub-sector, and in this context, the newly created National Employment Fund (FNE) is playing an important role. Under its auspices, the country's public and private training centers have been assessed in terms of the type of training they provide and overall effectiveness, and a limited follow-up on modern sector enterprises provides some evidence on whether trainees are finding the desired job opportunities. A detailed study of the informal sector in the Douala area provides useful insights on this market. This work is continuing with a more detailed review of employment demand and supply in key sectors of the economy. 4.8 The unavailability of modern sector employment statistics and poor knowledge of the size of the informal sector make it extremely difficult to examine overall rates of return for this type of training. Nevertheless, tracer studies performed in Cameroon of some 265 students graduating with a Certificate of Professional Skills, CAP (the first four years of secondary technical education) in 1985 provide useful information. The studies found that although secondary technical schools in principle prepare students for the labor market, a large percentage of students (22%) continue on in school. The proportion varies in accordance with the socio-economic background, with a higher proportion (34Z) of children of white collar workers continuing, compared to 23? of blue collar backgrounds and 14X from peasant backgrounds. Of those seeking employment, the proportion of individuals finding formal jobs was of 27Z, while the proportion of those finding jobs in the informal sector was of 24Z. Unemployment appears high, of the order of 49?. The high rate of unemployment is in part explained by high earning expectations of graduates, and the labor market rigidities created by existing legislation concerning diplomas and wages in the formal sector. 4.9 Earning expectations do not correspond to realities. The median income expected by graduates was of CFAF 80,000 per month, but the actual median income in the private sector was of little more than CFAF 40,000 per month. None of the students imagined that they would accept an income lower than CFAF 30,000 per month, but one third of the population lived with this income. Using initial earnings corresponding 15 to the education level obtained, direct costs of the training, and the recurrent costs of technical schools for the average number of years that it takes to obtain the CAP certificate, partial estimates of private and public rates of return were derived: private rates were of below 10% in the formal market, and public rates of some 6%. The private rates of return of the informal market were negative. This indicates that recurrent expenditure in technical schools is not compensated by higher earnings in the private sector, and that apprenticeship in the informal sector may yet still offer the least-cost alternative to training. 4.10 Problems related to the overall adequacy of training can be grouped as follows! (a) Both private and public centers have built-up valuable expertise in creating a national capacity in secretarial/clerical, mechanics (particularly automotive mechanics) and clothes manufacturing. More than 50 percent of existing centers provide training in these areas, but these areas are currently oversubscribed and both private and public centers should consider substantially reducing them. Other training programs should also be examined for possible oversupply. (b) Generally speaking, training takes place in a context that has nothing to do with the real workplace: more often than not, trainees learn to work on equipment that is no longer used at enterprises. Mc3t important, however, trainees do not acquire the work discipline, nor the social interaction skills that are needed for high productivity. In addition to securing adequate training equipment and materials, training centers should also aim at providing notions of the direct relationship between production time and work outputs, and recognition that output objectives are not necessary or exclusively an individual's responsibility, but the effort of a team. (c) Even when the type of training is relevant, training programs tend to be too long and courses are given at fixed intervals without regard to the size of groups to be trained, unnecessarily adding to the cost of training. In this regard, public training institutions are the least performing, requiring a fundamental restructuring of both programs and training techniques. 4.11 Technical and vocational training is available in public and private education centers at the secondary education level, and in public and private vocational training centers which provide Onon- formal" training. MINEDUC operates a number in the first group, while MTPS directly operates several vocational training zenters and is responsible for overseeing others. There are also other specialized centers under the responsibility of MINSANTE and MINESCOF. 4.12 As indicated above, and in light of the serious unemployment problem, the Government created the National Employment Fund (FNE), an autonomous public agency. FNE's key responsibilities are to assist individuals in finding employment, and in this context, it finances training of those interested in improving their skills at public or private centers which provide formal training, on the-job-training in private enterprises, apprenticeships for informal sector activities.or training for the creation of micro-enterprises. FNE is also charged with the establishment of a system to maintain employment statistics. It is in the context of the relationship of the training center and the 16 employer's needs for qualified workers, that the examination of the country's training system is taking place. 4.13 Under HINEDUC's responsibility, there are some 200 centers throughout the country who offer a two-year post-primary vocational training program (SAR). SARs provide training to some 10,000 primary school leavers in occupational streams, such as woodwork, bricklaying, electricity, body works, metal works, welding, pottery, basket weaving and home economics (for girls). Individuals who have received this type of training are likely to find employment in the informal sector. While in principle these centers could render a valuable service to a large number of primary education school leavers, their effectiveness is hampered by poor operating conditions: lack of electricity and water, training tools and materials. 4.14 Technical lycees, colleges and vocational training centers total 125, and over 60 percent are private. Table 10 provides a breakdown of these by type of training provided, and their legal status. In general terms, these centers offer a wide array of competencies. Technical lycees and colleges under MINEDUC's responsibility offer programs that are part of a long cycle, often lacking any practical training, while private centers and NGOs adapt their training cycles to the needs of the enterprise with training on demand and courses of a short duration. 4.15 In terms of training staff, public technical lycees, colleges and training centers count with at least two-thirds permanent staff, while private institutions have at least fifty percent of part- time staff. These latter institutions present the advantage of having external staff who are exposed to the realities of the job market. In general, centers which perform the best are still relatively small in number. Centers which offer short courses, or courses designed to meet the requirements of employers are relatively few, the least flexible being the public training centers. Another major difference between public and private centers, is that the first lack adequate training equipment or materials. The situation is more diverse in the private centers and NGOs, but many are well equipped and count with the necessary materials. Table 11 presents the situation of all centers concerning the financing of technical and vocational training, the situation of trainers, and whether the centers provide assistance for the placement of trainees. 4.16 Because private centers and NG0s have the inherent capacity to respond to market signals, requiring them to adjust their programs, or go out of business, they will be excluded from further examination. Centers under the responsibility of both HINEDUC and MTPS, however, deserve a closer examination. MTPS' rapid training centers offer programs which range from one to two-years to young people who have left the school system. The centers provide training in areas of management (accounting), clothes manufacturing, word processing, cold and air conditioning, auto mechanics, electricity and metal works. In addition to difficulties in the operation of these centers resulting from the inadequacy of training equipment, materials and trainers, a large part 0 17 of the programs are concentrated in areas where there is an oversupply of expertise in the market: clothes manufacturing and auto mechanics. 4.17 The four-year technical colleges (CETIC-CETIF) offer a nimber of certificates, including secretarial, accounting, auto- mechanics, sanitary plumbing, masonry, metal works, electric, and tailor/dressmaker are among the most important. More than 60 percent of students enrolled at these centers are in secretarial and accounting clerk streams. The concentration of enrollments in these areas indicates at once that the public sector is still seen as a major source of employment. Students holding these certificates find no place for them in the modern sector, and as a result, they find their way into the first cycle of general secondary education, or seek to continue at a technical lycee. 4.18 In general, all programs suffer from the same operational deficiencies: training equipment is outdated, materials are near absent, and the trainers themselves are not aware of labor market requirements. As a result, the programs provide an undue emphasis on general education (over 50 percent of course time) and technical courses are of a theoretical nature. As pedagogical aspects are of primary importance, it is also necessary to examine the institutions which provide the training to trainers. These are called ENIAET and ENIET, and are, in principle, second cycle secondary education centers which are evenly distributed by province. A look at the general situation of these ENIAET/ENIET: general state of disrepair, lack of training equipment and materials and the fact that training programs do not provide for even a short period of practical training in an enterprise, provides a dismal picture of the overall quality and relevance of training. 4.19 Public technical lycees wh3ch have been in operation prior to 1989 shall be called the traditional technical lyceesa for purposes of this report. They offer two or three-year programs (francophone and anglophone) to students who have completed the first cycle of secondary education, whether technical or general. Certificates are a technical baccalaureat, or A Level. Programs offered are administrative, managerial and commercial techniques; clothes manufacturing, civil works (buildings, public works and studies); mechanics (construction and auto); electronics; electro-mechanic maintenance; metal works; woodwork (forestry, wood industry, cabinet making); cold and air-conditioning; and topography As is the case with the technical colleges above, students enrolled in more general subjects, for which there is little place in the modern sector constitute over 50 percent, followed by clothes manufacturing, which is oversubscribed, and civil works. The situation of infrastructure, equipment and materials are similar to that of the centers mentioned above, and although the trainer's initial training is of good technical quality, provided by ENSET at the Douala University Center, trainers at these lycees have not updated their skills either through in-service or practical exposure for many years. 4.20 Excluded from the above evaluation are six new technical lycees, which were built at a cost of some US$25 million per center. The centers count with modern training equipment, and have a capacity of some 3,000 students each. A first has been operational for a least two 18 years and has been utilized by ENSET principally to train the trainers which were to be assigned to the remaining five technical lycees. Three of these began operation this year, while the remaining two will begin in 1993/94. As conceived, the centers have a low zate of return. The reasoas are many. Among the most important are the relatively low enrollments in the second cycle of secondary technical education, which are likely to render these centers highly under-utilized. A second is the low achievement level of students entering the cycle, which hampers their training and is likely to result in high repetition rates. 4.21 The above situation suggests the need for a policy in technical education and vocational training which is focused on producing low-cost and flexible technical and vocational training which is offered to a larger number of primary and general secondary school leavers, and which aims at providing a match between the training product and the employer's needs. IV.2 Higher Education 4.22 The absence of selection criteria for entrance to the university, coupled with generous scholarship grants for a majority of students has helped fuel output growth. The number of degrees awarded by higher education centers increased from 1,620 in 1980 to 4.342 in 1989. A detailed breakdown of these degrees shows that the Faculty of Law and Economics turns out as many graduates as the rest of faculties and centers put together. At the end of the 1988189 academic year, nearly 1,700 degrees were awarded in Law and Economics alone, 1,100 in teaching degrees at ENS, some 800 in literature and social sciences and about 500 in the sciences. The remaining 200 plus degrees were in medicine, engineering, journalism, international relations, public sector management, agriculture and food processing, and linguistics. The number of degrees awarded is expected to double the 1989 level by 1994, in light of the number of students currently in the higher education system. 4.23 Lack of employment statistics and of specific follow-up on the employment status of higher education graduates does not permit a detailed examination of the rate of return of higher education. Nevertheless, the civil service and private sector wage structure presented in paragraph 4.3, the current employment trends in the civil service, the ongoing economic recession, and the recurrent costs associated to producing a university graduate give a general indication of these rates. Taking the number of 1989 degrees awarded in higher education, it is estimated that approximately 262 were automatically recruited into the civil service (ENS, medicine and public sector management graduates); about 5Z went on to undertake graduate studies; and 69Z remain unemployed, although some may have become involved in informal sector activities. 4.24 In order to arrive at crude estimates of rates of return, initial salaries linked to the certificate obtained were utilized. Private and public rates of return fluctuate greatly depending on the discipline acquired, and whether the public or private sector wage scale is utilized. By way of example, the private rate of return of a Liberal 19 Arts graduate in the civil service is of 7Z, but the private rate of return of a Faculty of Science graduate in the public sector is only of 3M. Only in the case of ENS (teachers), CUSS (medicine) and ENAM (management), the private rates of return were of the order of 10%. Private rates of return are even lower if the privato sector wage scale is utilized, and range from 5% to 21. If the social rate of return is calculated incorporating the recurrent costs of the university centers, these rates become dismally low, and range between 3% and 1l, except for the cases of ENS, CUSS and ENAM, where they are of the order of 7%. 4.25 Based on the above indicators, there is a general consensus that higher education should reduce its output. Furthermore, a much reduced output should be re-directed as much as possible away from law and economics, literature and the social sciences and into areas for which a present or future demand can be foreseen. In this context, the current programs on medicine, engineering, agriculture, business and financial management should be maintained, but efforts should be made to improve their efficiency, and to diversify their structures so that a broader menu of programs can be made available to the student population. Special attention should be paid to the Faculty of Science, both in terms of the number of students accepted, and in achieving efficiency gains. 4.26 Drawing from available information, a number of general observations concerning the higher education system can be drawn: Past private demand for higher education has been almost exclusively driven by public sector employment expansion. In the case of the three traditional faculties of the University of Yaounde, which account for 95 percent of all graduate degrees, output was primarily directed towards civil service employment. The degree of centralization.in the management of public institutions had not required major skill mixes or specialization. This, coupled with the linkages between the wage structure and school certification system, had provided an almost effortless transition from student to public employee. The situation acted in a perverse fashion both in terms of student attitudes towards academic achievement, and on university standards, through the absence of any routine mechanism to review and revise academic programs or to establish student performance standards. Given the current near-absence of demand for employment from the public sector, and no signs of economic growth in the liamediate future, it would be reasonable to expect a decline in higher education enrollments. Yet, enrollments have continued to increase. More than ever, students seek access to higher education as a way of securing sustenance for them and their families through the scholarship grant system. The situation only reinforces the need for fundamental changes in higher education. Without reform, higher education would merely become a family subsidy to an elite group. 4.27 It has been proposed above that the number of higher education graduates should be reduced. This argument is supported by the state of the economy, but also by the overall direction and content of programs which enroll the majority of students. It is obvious that the Faculty of Literature and Social Sciences cannot continue to produce an ever growing number of graduates that have no place in the country's productive structure, other than the few that may be needed in the 20 education system. In the same manner, while both lawyers and economists are needed both in the public and private sectors, the numbers produced far exceed actual demand, and the product does not correspond to present needs. As a way to illustrate the inadequacy of the skills acquired at the University of Yaounde, the Faculty of Law and Economics is examined. While official programs provide for the acquisition of general and specific knowledge of economic management principles, fundamental areas are not covered in any significant way in the three-year undergraduate program. These are monetary, exchange rate, fiscal and trade policies and their management; the management of private and public resources; the diverse financial instruments in today's world; and the economic evaluation of investment choices. In law, undergraduate students do not acquire more than an overview of Cameroon's civil and penal systems. To compensate for these shortcomings, the University created a number of two-year masters professional economics and law programs which combine the specific academic principles and expertise to be acquired, and practical training with a public or private enterprise. Nonetheless, the new master programs provide the student with a too narrow academic focus (i.e. master in financial and accounting techniques, master in investment choices), which is clearly insufficient, given the overall shortcomings of the undergraduate program. Practical training is not available to the student, either because employers do not wish to participate, or because program directors at the University have failed to seek employer participation. Furthermore, the more fundamental deficiencies in the undergraduate program remain unaddressed. A first group of master graduates totaling some 70 individuals obtained degrees at the end of the 1990/91 school year. All remain unemployed. 4.28 The Faculty of Science deserves special attention for various reasons, but particularly because the number of graduate degrees have been growing in a substantial manner. Similarly, graduate degrees from the University of Yaounde's ENS (training the future teachers and professors for the nation's education system) have also been growing at a very fast pace. Together, graduates from the Faculty and ENS represented 37 percent of the total number of graduates in 1989. In light of a very limited job market, graduates from these institutions should normaly compete for the same jobs in the education sector, but the preference given to ENS graduates leaves Science graduates without job possibilities. The situation is further complicated by the Government's ongoing investmnt commitments to expand the science bloc of the ENS and to expand the Faculty's infrastructure and overall capacity. Given the apparent similarities in training in both the sciences and mathematics, and excessive output from the Faculty and ENS, it is not unreasonable to question the continued existence of ENS in its present form. A much changed, and smaller ENS to provide the pedagogical training that would be missing from a much reduced output of the Faculty of Sciences, or to provide training on education management, curriculum assessment and measurement of educational outcomes may be a solution to this problem. 4.29 Other programs, but particularly the centers at Douala, Dschang, Ngaoundere and Buea should be re-examined with a view to increasing the efficiency of their operation. In this context, some may require for the menu of course offerings to be expanded, while 21 maintaining the specialized character of their training. A notable exception may be the Bues university center, due to the limited character of the technical expertise it provides (Linguistics) and the small number of students (46 in 1990/91). At present, the Buea university center is not viable, and, on a purely economic basis, it should be closed. However, the center is perceived by the Anglophone population as one possible way of providing young anglophones an equal chance to higher education. This population is on the whole, well prepared to participate in the financing of their education. Given its present fiscal situation, proposed Government financing of the center's conversion to a full pledged university, and of the recurrent costs that would be inherent in such a conversion would not seem possible. The Government should consider private ownership of this center by the members of that community. 4.30 Turning to higher education students abroad, substantial improvements can be found in the overall quality of the education process. A much more fundamental question is in order, however, as the types of skills which are being acquired are not notably different from those offered by the University of Yaounde, and other university centers. Given the very high costs involved, this may signify that there is a need to re-think the policy's fundamental objective, so as to enable it to concentrate in disciplinee which have been defined as essential to the country's development. 4.31 The present pattern of public resource allocations for higher education raise serious issues of equity and promote inefficiency. At the source of these problems has been excessive political interference in the management of higher education. At the sectoral level, there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the number of graduates should be reduced and that a diminished higher education output must be re-directed to respond to present and future economic development requirements. Thus, an examination of both existing programs and curriculae, as well as the pedagogical capacity of educators needs to be undertaken. V. CURRENT AND FUTURE SCENARIOSt THE NEED FOR REFORM 5.1 The current crisis situation in the public finances has moved the Government to seek a partnership with various groups, including Parent's Associations and local communities to finance pre- school, primary and secondary educatinu programs in the ETS. In addition to contributions which are fixed by the Government at the beginning of the school year, Parent's Associations (APE) have established a system of voluntary financing in primary and secondary education. These efforts have permitted APE's to begin to participate in the management of schools, and to make decisions concerning the utilization of these resources: financing of school maintenance, teaching materials, construction of new classrooms to replace deteriorating infrastructures, and in many instances, new teachers. The process is also contributing to accelerate a decentralization process that is much needed. APE's contributions reached nearly CFAF 6.5 billion in 1989/90, and were equivalent to nearly 102 of MINEDUC's budget. Concurrent with future increases in levels of community 22 financing, the Government expects to reinforce school and resources management through the re-definition of the statute of the APEs, the establishment of improved coordination between the ministry and APE's, and through the establishment of uniform school accounting and audit mechanisms. Table 12 provides a breakdown of these contributions, including expected future levels of participation. 5.2 The above are extremely healthy trends that should be encouraged and continued. They demonstrate the capacity of the population to pay for education services and provide a clear justification for further private sector expansion in ETS. They also reinforce the decentralization of the education system. When examined closely, however, these trends raise rather worrisome concerns about Government involvement in education, as they point to the gradual disengagement of the Government from crucial basic education, to finance an increasing proportion of scarce public resources to higher education. 5.3 Rapid population growth is recognized as another major contraint to education, and to the country's overall economic development. Without changes in the present demographic trends, Cameroon's 11.7 million population is expected to reach 16 million in eight years (year 2000) and to double to 22 million by 2010. This makes Cameroon the second fastest growing population among middle-income countries. In terms of age structure, 56Z of the population is aged 20 years or less. Those aged 55 or more constitute 8Z of the total, and the working age population (aged 15 to 54) represents 36Z. Continuation of the present demographic trends will be accompanied by a worsening of the population pressures on cultivable lands and the environment, growing dependency ratios, and fast urbanization with the associated accelerated demand for housing, schools, health care and employment. The country's age structure will particularly affect the ETS. 5.4 To illustrate the effects of population growth on the public ETS, two scenarios were selected from a recent population and family planning review. The first scenario is based on the current fertility rate of 6Z (population growth rate of 3.1Z), which begins to decline slightly only after the year 2000, while the second scenario envisages low fertilitys an immediate decline, reaching 4.3Z in 1995, and 3.3Z in the year 2000. Both scenarios project the school-age population in accordance with the present age structure, and take into consideration present enrollment ratios and unit costs at each level of the ETS. The resulting effects are measured purely in fiscal terms. Proiected Population Growth (In millions) High FortiYlIt Scenarlo Low Fertililtv Scenario Year 1995 2000 201 19 200 2010 Total, 18.. 16.0 22.1 18.4 15.0 17.6 of which: 6-11 2.8 2.6 8.1 2.2 2.5 2.8 12-18 2.4 2.6 2.8 2.4 2.8 2.9 19-22 1.0 1.8 1.5 1.0 1.8 1.5 23 5.5 Taking into consideration present enrollment ratios, the high fertility scenario indicates that the number of students in the lower levels of the education system would increase from nearly 2.5 million in 1990, to 2.8 million in 1995, to 3.0 million in the year 2000, and to 3.5 million in the year 2010. In the low fertility scenario, the 1990 number would increase to 2.7 million in 1995, and would remain at 2.9 million from the year 2000 to 2010. In higher education, both scenarios would result in similar increases in the student population. It would increase from 28,500 in 1989/90, to 57,800 in 1995, and to 107,500 in the year 2000. As can be seen from these projections, the effects of low fertility rates on population growth and on the school age population would not be evident until 2010. This situation will exert enormous pressures on the public finances. Based on the present unit costs which exclude the community financing, the current public budget for the ETS would need to increase from CFAF 104 billion in 1989/90, to CFAF 131.7 billion in 1994/95, to CFAF 162.6 billion in the year 2000. Giver expected GDP decreases in the 1990's and no growth prospects to the year 2000, such level of public financial burden is not sustainable. 5.6 The situation requires an in-depth examination of ETS performance. At the root lies an over-centralized, over-staffed and inefficient public administration, with a widespread lack of transparency and accountability. Public policy is often averted to give room to private or political interests. This undermines the ability of administrators to manage policies, programs, financial and human resources. It has bred a civil service which is increasingly unable to tackle the technical and administrative problems it is called to solve. Nowhere are these shortcomings as visible than in the ETS. Thus, a prerequisite to ETS reform would be Government commitment to effect fundamental changes in administration. Institutional reforms are essential at the central level to give room for greater autonomy in higher education, a faster pace in the decentralization process and to allow for efficiency improvements. VI. THE REFORM IN THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING SECTOR 6.1 The Government has empowered the Groupe de Pilotage to examine the various reform options available to it and subsequently to prepare an education and training sector policy statement which includes a medium term action plan. This work would enable the Government to adopt a policy that addresses ETS problems in strategic terms and defines priorities and key means, including a specific implementation plan for the short and medium terms. The purpose of this section is therefore to make recommendations to the Government on the rationale, objectives and possible direction of educational reform. Without reform, both the quality of, and access to education and training would be threatened, and with them, hopes for increased participation in the world economy and the benefits of growth. 6.2 Seen from a standpoint of the entire ETS, it is recommended that the Government takes a top-level-down approach when considering reform, as the higher education system is likely to influence other levels of education in a substantive way. Through such reform, higher 24 education output would be reduced. This shd.uld be achieved mainly through a cutback of public spending and the introduction of a student finance mechanism. It is believed that guch policy changes would contribute to clarify real labor demand for an educated work force. This will also contribute to reduce demand for secondary general education, and would raise awarenessJby the population on the need for other types of training. It is in this context that a second major axis of ETS reform should be to redresr the technical and vocational training sub-system. As it stands, the sub-system is not positioned to offer flexible, low-cost training alternatives to secondary general education. A possible reform of this sub-system may center on the strengthening of the FNE as to enable it to serve as a focal point to finance the reform of training programs so that they may begin to respond to employer's needs. In addition, efficiency improvements are needed at all levels of the system to improve educational achievement and reduce waste in public spending. This, coupled with the restructuring of existing education programs would help create a new public ETS which is more attuned to labor market needs. Finally, the Government may consider to promote new private sector investment in ETS to assist it in facing the system's expansion that would be necessary in order to take into consideration population growth. 6.3 The reform of the education and training sector could not be achieved without first addressing the legal framework.of the civil service which establishes a direct relationship between the wage structure and the education sector's certification system, the automatic recruitment of a number of higher education scholarship recipients into the civil service, and without redressing the status of married women in the civil service. In this respect, the labor code should also be examined to determine whether the same relationship exists concerning wages and the certification system. VI.1 ETS Financing Policy 6.4 A new financing policy requires careful consideration of the constraints that are imposed by the ongoing crisis in the public finances, it also demanda a clear definition of the share of the burden that Government, private sector and beneficiaries must bear to maintain a sound ETS. To achieve this, the Government must first build on the ongoing efforts by the community to participate in the financing of pre- school, primary and secondary education. Second, it must reduce its share of financing of higher education and simultaneously institute a system of payment of tuition by beneficiaries. Finally, it must allow for further development of private education at all levels of the system, including higher education. Specific recommendations on ways to achieve these objectives are contained in the reform measures which are presented below. VI.2 Administrative Structure 6.5 A future, more rational development of the education and training sector would require the coordination of actions at the various levels of the education system and a continued evaluation process. The Groupe de Pilotage has been established to follow-up on this process and 25 includes a wide number of participants. Implementation of a reform program, however, would require for the Government to consider the merger of the two education ministries into a single entity, the National Education Ministry. The new institution could be organized with three State Secretariat., one for pre-school, primary and secondary general education; one for technical and vocational training; and one for higher education. 6.6 In the context of such a reorganization, the general objectives and responsibilities of the ministry would need to be reviewed and defined, and its operational structure and administrative units streamlined or restructured. It should also take into consideration the fact that neither MINEDUC, nor NESIRES count any strategic planning, financial and human resource management capabilities, particularly from the point of view of the management of the entire ETS. As these three areas would be key to the implementation of a sectoral reform, it is suggested that recruitment of individuals to head and staff them be carried out in such a manner as to assure the appropriate competence, backed by the relevant staff and infoimation management systems. 6.7 In terms of the decentralization of both primary and secondary education management, an important process is underway, with a greater participation of parents and communities in both financing and management of schools. This process should be reinforced through the evaluation and creation of matching Government funds for both school expansion and teacher's salaries. 6.8 The above mentioned merger of the present ministries would result in substantial savings of current expenditure which are linked to a reduction of staff presently at MESIRES. A concerted effort to introduce as quickly as possible a system of human resource management in order to establish complete personnel files of both central and decentralized staff, would be the basis for the design of staff redeployment plans. Redeployment of administrative personnel to teaching posts would result in a further reduction of administrative personnel expenditure to levels which are the norm in other regions. Through these measures, it would not be unthinkable to reduce administrative personnel expenditure in the medium term, well below the current 35Z of total education personnel expenditure as of September, 1991. VI.3 Higher Education. 6.9 Governance. Both the University of Yaounde and other university centers have suffered from undue interfereuce from Government agencies. If higher education is to play a major role in the development of the country's future leaders, entrepreneurs, managers and technicians, it must be given sufficient autonomy to put in place rational developmental and operational policies. A great deal of attention needs to be paid to the type of institutions and of education programs the country must have to achieve these objectives. 26 6.10 As part of its examination of the reform of the system's administrative structure, the Government would evaluate the benefits of giving full autonomy to the University of Yaounde and all other higher learning institutions. While this is necessary to ensure the efficient operation of the sub-sector, coordination at a national level would still be needed to ensure rational development. The creation of a National Higher Education Board, with broad participation from both Government and private sector individuals may be warranted. Concerning the need for greater autonomy of higher learning centers, the Government could review existing legislation and Presid2ntial Decreee concerning higher education with the objective of reducing Government participation and increasing private sector involvement. Priority should be given to the restructuring of the Board of Directors to include greater private sector representation, to the process of selection of its President and the duration of his mandate, and to proposing an adequate structure for the day-to-day management of these institutions. The Government could also study ways to give greater autonomy to the different faculties in the selection/restructuring or elimination of education programs. 6.11 As is the case at the central ministry level, higher education centers, but particularly the University of Yaounde do not have strategic planning, financial and human resource management capabilities. These would need to be established through careful selection of appropriate personnel and if needed, through the assistance of foreign university centers that have developed a recognized capability in university management. In order to reinforce the human resource management function, criteria for selection, promotion, and tenure of teaching personnel would also need to be re-examined. Similar to the central ministry level, the University of Yaounde and other university centers would need to establish adequate ratios of teaching versus non-teaching personnel. 6.12 Financial. To strengthen both the resource generation and financial management function, the Government should study all aspects -elating to the institutionalization of a fee-paying system. Initial fee levels must be studied by each center, including the University of Yaounde, and presented to the Government for review and approval, with a corresponding analysis of general beneficiary payment capacity. In this context, it is useful to recall that the newly established private Catholic University has established yearly university fees of the order of CFAF 470,000. An inherent part of proposals for a specific level of university fees would be recommendations for the utilization of these resources, the establishment/reinforcement of financial management and audit functions, and the modalities for reviewing the level of university fees in the future. 6.13 Such a fundamental change in the modalities for the financing of higher education would enable the Government to set and earmark its contribution. The present system of public financing of higher education amounts to a blanket subsidy to all students, supplemented by scholarship grants to nearly 70 percent of all higher education students, which amount to a very generous living allowance. A key complement to the establishment of a university fee system would be the re-definition of both the objectives and modalities of the 27 scholarship policy. Specific proposals for these changes are discussed under the heading Scholarship Policy below. 6.14 Selectivity. To reintroduce the concept of academic achievement as an educational objectives, selectivity of access by students to all higher learning institutions, including the University of Yaounde, should be examined. The Government could develop a selection process which takes into consideration the physical and human resource capacity of each institution and the academic performance of the candidates. In this context, the development of a competitive university entrance examination should be a priority. Nevertheless, low student performance is linked to doficiencies in the secondary general education system, and as such, it would be unjust to establish such a selection process without also adopting parallel actions designed to give secondary school students a reasonable chance for access to higher education or to other technical or professional skills. This trend should be definite but gradual. 6.15 It is in the above context that the Government should consider complementary measures. A key one would be to consider the establishment of a one year post-secondary preparatory course on a non- scholarship basis aimed at providing secondary education graduates with a chance of passing the admission test. The dilemma of the need for additional infrastructures and its costs may be solved by a study of the optimal utilization of existing space, and/or adding capacity to existing infrastructures and by encouraging the development of private facilities for this purpose. A parallel measure would be to study the overall rate of return of converting five of the six new technical lycees which begin operation in 1992 and 1993, into post-secondary education centers. Specific proposals for this are presented under the heading of Technical Education and Vocational Training. 6.16 Academic Programs. The overall efficiency and relevance of existing academic programs is a key aspect of higher education reform. In undertaking to review existing programs, three major areas would need to be taken into consideration: First, the study should explore the overall rate of return of thu programs offered at each center, by gathering labor market data, follow-up on the employment status of graduates, and by taking into consideration physical and teaching capacity, and student enrollment trends for the last five years. This would determine whether some should be eliminated, merged or restructured. In this context, indications are provided in Section IV. The 'Education and Training Systea and the Labor Markets concerning higher education, should be taken into consideration. In this specific context, plans to expand the university centers at Buea and Ngaoundere, should be put on hold until such a review. Second, the revision of the content of education programs should be undertaken with the objective of improving their relevance to the overall economic context. In this context, the development of direct links with foreign universities with recognized capacity in the various programs could prove of substantial assistance. Third, degree programs should be moved to a full credit course system. Such a strategy would present benefits both to the university centers and to the student. It would establish fixed requirements in course content an:" credit hours for each degree cycle, 28 giving a choice of courses to the student for some course requirements. It would, in that sense, make optimal use of both facilities and teaching staff. Furthermore, it would allow higher learning centers to provide continuous education, including night courses for those that are working for a degree, as well as those that enroll in specific courses only. And finally, it would encourage private sector investment in new programs. 6.17 A New Scholarship Policy. The Government's scholarship policy constitutes a major form of financial assistance to students in higher education, both at home an abroad. As su-,h, the Government has guaranteed access to higher education to most students, and has contributed to the development of a substantial proportion of qualified human resources of today. The present economic onstraints, coupled with a higher education system that no longer responds to the country's needs, require for the Government to re-examine its policies regarding scholarships. 6.18 A new scholarship policy would serve the following objectivess (I) to provide assistance to qualified and performing students; (ii) to develop national expertise in areas which are considered a priority for the country's economic development; (iii) to correct regional disparities in access to higher education and (iv) to facilitate women's access to higher education. 6.19 In this context, the Government should envisage the beneficiary to be the principal agent for the financing of his/her higher education. State support should be warranted only in order to meet educational and economic development goals. As such, and taking into account the need to move into a fee-paying system, the structure of the scholarship grants level and content) should be reviewed and proposals could be presented to the Government &or approval of a new structure which clearly separates grants for payment of university fees, and living allowances. Full scholarship grants should be reserved for a small portion of students. 6.20 The Government's scholarship grant policy as regards national higher education centers, including the University of Yaounde, should be designed as to meet the following criteria: As regards new scholarships (a) grants should only be awarded to top performing students at the university competitive examination; (b) a percentage of scholarship grants would need to be reserved for students which lack the financial means to finance their education and to women in accordance to criteria and regulations to be developed. Clearly, the skills or levels of training for which new scholarships would be awarded should be defined in advance, giving priority to disciplines which are needed for the country's development. This information should be widely diffused, and the appropriate level of funding included in the cutrent budget. As regards students already in the higher education system, scholarship grant renewal should be subject to successful completion of the previous academic year. Failing students should not have access to a grant for the rest of the degree cycle. 29 6.21 The level of grants for students abroad should reflect adequately the cost of living of the host country. Fringe benefits should be eliminated. Scholarship grants could be limitedt (i) for undergraduate degrees, to develop areas of expertise which are not available in the national higher education system and which are defined as a priority; (ii) for graduate degrees, to management of public and private resources, teaching and research. Scholarship grant renewal should be subject to successful completion of the previous academic year. Failing students should not have access to a grant for the rest of the degree cycle. The management of scholarships abroad could be also improved through the establishment of clear and periodic student requirements to report both their status and performance in the host country. This should be a pre-condition for consideration of scholarship grant renewal. VI.4 Secondary Education. 6.22 General Secondary Education. This sub-sector faces serious efficiency problems, coupled by still growing demand for this type of education. Government action in terms of the system's expansion to accommodate population growth is limited by financial and overall economic constraints. Private sector investment in secondary general education would go a long way towards the elimination of this situation. 6.23 In terms of the public general secondary education sub- system, there is a need to examine the content of education programs for each cycle of secondary education in terms of: (a) general education skills that would be necessary to participate in active life, and (b) admission requirements of higher education centers, and in function of the above. Such an approach would also require for the Government to review and revise initial training programs of general secondary education professors and of physical facilities and to provide in- service training for school managers, inspectors and professors. As part of this effort, and in the context of such an evaluation, the present examination system should also be reviewed and revised, as necessary. This would necessarily include the revision and reduction in the existing number of Baccalaureat diplomas. 6.24 To address problems of deteriorating infrastructure, the Government should undertake to make an inventory of the condition of infrastructures and equipment in all general secondary education facilities, and should develop a least-cost uniform standard to address rehabilitation and re-equipping problems which would be programmed over the medium term with financial participation from Parents Associations. VI.5 Technical and Vocational. Training. 6.25 The technical and vocational training system in Cameroon is relatively well developed. It counts with a large number of training institutions that are distributed throughout the country. Nevertheless, the large number of Government institutions that Airectly or indirectly deal with the sub-sector, has made extremely difficult thus far, to come up with a coherent policy regarding its development. 30 6.26 The more recent creation of FNE and its nascent relationship with private sector employers and with training centers could provide a framework for re-directing technical and vocational training policy. Such a policy r,uld utilize FNE as a main instrument for its implementation, through the creation of a training fund, managed by FNE, which could be designed to assist both public and private training institutions to develop the type of programs which provide a better match between employer's needs and training output in a flexible and least-cost manner to better satisfy formal and informal job markets. In this respect, access to FNE's funds would be directly linked to demonstrated ability to maintain or restructure programs that respond to these criteria. 6.27 As indicated earlier, a second major policy change would involve the new technical lycees. The technical lycee at Nkolbisson in Yaounde has been utilized on a temporary basis by the ENSET of the Douala university center for the training of technical trainers. This arrangement should be made permanent. The Nkolbisson center has received substantial Canadian assistance to train the trainers that would be ultimately assigned to the remaining five technical lycees. In the longer term, ENSET should be able to provide both initial training, as well as in-service training. Nevertheless, ENSET's overemphasis on conceptual courses needs to be clarified, and its general approach to training re-evaluated. 6.28 As regards the remaining five technical lycees, it was suggested earlier that the rate of return of converting these to post- secondary technical education centers should be evaluated. Two possible scenarios should be taken into consideration. The first would entail the conversion of these centers to receive secondary education graduates to provide them with a post-secondary education degree (BTS) on a non- scholarship basis. The second scenario would provide for the utilization of these centers to provide both formal and non-formal training for a fee. The target beneficiaries would be both secondary school graduates and employees/individuals wishing to improve their job skills. In overall terms, it is estimated that the rate of return concerning the first scenario would remain as low as under the current situation, and that this rate would only become positive on the optimal utilization of both infrastructure and trainers. This, however, would need to be verified through the carrying out of such an evaluation, and the relevant decisions made on these bases. 6.29 As is the case with secondary general education, public technical secondary school and vocational infrastructure has deteriorated, and a large part of existing equipment is either obsolete or non-functional because of inadequate maintenance. The Government would carry out an inventory of the status of each technical secondary education center to determine overall needs. As part of this exercise, the rate of utilization of facilities (number of students/class) would be utilized to determine the priority of each center for rehabilitation. Provided that these centers also restructure training programs, overall needs could be presented to FNE for financing. 31 VI.6 Basic Education. 6.30 Government concerns for basic education has led it to prepare a draft detailed strategy and an action plan which was conceived in the context of the World Conference of Basic Education for All and which would be examined in the context of possible educational reform. This program stresses the need to determine the roles of the State, the community and Parents Associations in the financing of basic education. In this context, the Government's proposed approach concerns improvements in the basic structure of pre-school and primary education, principally through the adoption of measures designed to address issues of program content and internal efficiency. 6.31 To address the issues of program content, existing curricula and the examination system would be revised and in-service training for both pre-school and primary education need to be prepared. 6.32 As indicated earlier in the context of secondary general education, the expansion of the system which is needed to respond to population growth would need to be addressed primarily in the context of private education expansion and of cost-sharing arrangements between the State and the community. In addition, given the need to address issues of deteriorating infrastructures and equipment, a priority would be given to the preparation of programs for rehabilitation and maintenance of existing school facilities, paying particular attention to the design of uniform specifications to reduce costs, for financing in cooperation with local communities and through parents associations. VI.7 The Role of the Private Sector. 6.33 As indicated above, the current and forecasted economic situation would not allow the Government to substantially increase education expenditure. Instead, substantial efficiency gains would have to be made, coupled with an important expansion of private sector investment in the education sector at all levels of the system. To facilitate this effort, the Government should examine existing legislation and Presidential Decrees regulating private education with the objective of eliminating existing barriers to increases in school fees, while gradually reducing Government subsidies to private schools. Problems relating to differences in school performance could be solved by the establishment of a national achievement measurement system which applies to both public and private schools. VI.8 Preparation of Investment and Current Budgets 6.34 The above policy reform options are many. Together, they should result in a fundamental change of the way investment decisions are made, and current budget resources are allocated. A first step would be to proceed with the preparation of a detailed financial system which determines the present cost of existing programs and activities, which would serve as a basis for comparison to proposed policy changes. A second step in such a process would be for the Government to decide on the scope, content and time-frame of a possible reform program, and then to proceed with the operationalization and costing of reform measures. This process would result in the preparation of investment and current budget programs which respond in a direct way to stated priorities, and which can be presented to the international community for financing. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bude, Ulo. 1987. "The primary school's role in development: services for the improvement of local living conditions: facts and fallacies". Bonn, Germany. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. 1990. "Technical Secondary Education in Togo and Cameroon - Research Note" by J.J. Paul. Dijon, France. Evaplan Consultation Inc. 1990. "Analyse du Secteur de 1'Enseignement Technique et Professionnel au Cameroun". Study prepared for ACDI. Canada. Fonds National de l'Emploi. 1991. "Etude sur les Potentialit6s Nationales de Formation Professionnelle". Yaoundd, Cameroon. Institut Sup6rieur de Management Public. 1990. "Analyse du Secteur de 1'Enseignement Technique et Professionnel au Cameroun. Yaounde, Cameroon. Journal of Modern AfrJcan Studies. 1982. "Education and Sexual Inequality in Cameroon" by B. Cooksey, Lecturer in Sociology, University of Dar es Salaam. MINEDUC. 1991. "Diagnosis of ETS Performance and Evaluation of the higher education system". Yaounde, Cameroon. MINEDUC. 1992. "Strategy and Action Plan for 'Basic education for all". Yaounde, Cameroon. UNESCO. 1982. "Republique du Cameroun: Secteur modernes: emploi, besoins en main d'oeuvre qualifide et enseignement technique". Paris, France. UNESCO. 1985. "Etude sur l'enseignement et la formation", Paris, France. World Bank. 1990. "Cameroon: Country Assessment Paper". CAMEROON Page 1 of 1 TABLE 1: CURRENT EDUCATION EXPENDITURES 1988/89 1989/90 1990191 1991/92 By Level Primary 42.5 43.9 44.4 44.7 Secondary/ 23.5 25.7 25.8 26.5 Technical Higher 30.1 34.5 35.0 34.9 Total 96.1 104.1 109.2 106.1 II. By Category Personnel 68.8 74.0 74.0 74.0 Other 10.6 12.2 10.2 10.1 Scholarships 10.5 11.9 21.0 18.0 Subsidy to 6.2 6.0 4.0 4.0 Private Total 96.1 104.1 109.2 106.1 Sources Ministry of Finance, Department of the Budget � Таiзlе 2 Сатеrоока: Evolцtion in students enroilment by 1eve1 of education впд by вех � . аявзiiь аэвывs iяаs1к iяв�пт iяи�и isЧtas !4� .! ри ♦!�г Уи Ри t Pr !и Ри t яs Ти !и t!с tu !и t!s М tM t h Preschool M+g эо тьь 53 r►o эс тьь ст ис зв s2в тэ soc и яiо и ясэ sт яа вв цт L sв тет яi ut , р as огс гт ьУS i• о4с за zcs i• гов зз зте гз эвi ьi sяь Zs +гs ьз iзс :я овs аь явз - Prii;�ary М+Е т oto ssв i sw мs. э отт эьо i сэв с.�я i сгв �ssя i тоs зiя i tот вос >>яs гц i г:я сrь i втs ui а зи scs i ясь isв F ь3з з,в0 т ц'Ртз ьIт о93 ть3 iяЪ 300 71я T7J в2о Sзб оя! в21 7в1 5св 1ь2 в5я вОс 5я! 13в ii3 зЧ POSt-� primar�• �FF i s�i i ioi i яс� i�iъ i вiт i ë;i i ëëi i iëi i ici i цi ji ss� li sc� Ceneral � Mrt aia ьвя гtгч аsт ias 9sa гзв отs iзi тгз гsс ьsз iьв cio гяi в+г ic+ •ц зи тсс тяз эа зьs я» secondar зi oot тг� sтя ы ci+ ае зоз ьs оаз sc огт sz тьs iu sгт ' sя згs аtз стя п sr+ iзв гтс , Techпica M.,�F t! ss� ы отs гг иz тт sss пг sет w sвт зь ого яо ис гз »т яз csi zc sвз вя si• 'secondar F с 727 �!в 2zI ) со2 зг тоs т c2t ав цs в icz зт яsе в гсв зв яьs io oci зс сiт . ` � Teachers M+F э�тэ э sяс з ьяв з ss:� з втв ь��se ь оог ь гsя s tco s зьт э ць з ето , ,, • . training � ' м t ьэз i ьяз i гяе i зез а sяi i сяг э эьс i ввг г ги г ьи з ьгь т Fii � Ри: РиЫiс � Pr: Pr�.vate b � г� �. . о м ь� TABLE 3: ENROLLMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION Tage I o EVOLUTION IN STUDENT ENROLLMENTS 30000 ALL UNIVERSITY CENTERS 2 0000 . . ................................................................................. ........................ 10000 .. $its. a off@ Me"W. 446668669 1 #4860 0 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 YEAR Fig. 3.1: Growth in the Total Number of Students y-axis: Number of Students .x-axis: Year UNIVERSITY OF YAOUNDE 12000 FACULTIES Law Econo- C4 I 8000 .......... . ............................................................... ........................................ . Sciences Literatu: 40100 ................. . .................... . ................ . .... ......... lot .......... ..9 ............ 0 ........... . go* ........... ---------- 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 Fig. 3.2: Growth in the Number of Students in the Faculties Page 2 of 2 TABLE 3: ENROLLCIENTS IN RIGHER EDUCATION EVOLUTION IN STUDENT ENROLLMENTS OTHER UNIVERSITY CENTERS 2250 2000 ---- IRIC 1750 -- ESSTI 2 1500 -ENSP 1250 ENS 1000 750 500 250 -...-------------- 91 92 83 84 85 BS 97 88 89 50 YEAR Fig. 3.3: Growth in the Number of Students ini the Professional Schools Page 1 of TABLE 4: COSTS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION BY LEVEL UNIT COSTS (F CPA/Student) PRIMARY SECONDARY TECHNICALIVOCATIONAL UNIVERSITY 1988/89 29,900 60.620 319.000 1,052,450 1989/90 29,310 59,524 335,070 1,102,240 1990/91 28,420 60,310 397,340 1,011,560 COSTS PER GRADUATE (P CPA/GRADUATE) 1989/90 EDUCATION SYSTEM PRIMARY SECONDARY TECHNICAL/VOCATIONAL FRANCOPHONE 349,830 1,182,090 2.839,100 ANGLOPHONE 319,930 666,820 2,583,900 HIGHER EDUCATION (F CFA/GRADUATE) 1989/90 Three-Year Undergraduate University of Yaounde Law and Economics Faculty 8,114,390 Sciences Faculty 9,366,805 Liberal Arts (Literature) 19,154,590 Other Centers 5,051,760 Source: Ministry of Finance budget statistics/Mission Estimates Page 1 of 9 TABLE 5 Public preschool education (19d9-1990) F x francophone; A x Anstlooh.ne; T = total. PROVINCE Number Number of NumDer umbyti Students ratios/ or REGION schools students rooms teachers teachers rooms Adamsoua F 11 1 311 23 63 21 57 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 Centre F 134 23 073 254 852 27 91 A 4 992 15 42 24 66 East F 38 3 203 62 152 21 52 A 1 55 2 2 28 28 Ext. Nor F 16 1 398 27 67 21 52 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 Littoral F p 11 354 142 375 30 80 A 2 83 2 4 21 42 North F 16 1 811 30 .s0 30 60 A 1 124 2 6 21 62 North West F 2 345 6 14 25 58 --A 19 1 781 21 109 16 85 West F 58 6 951 112 307 23 62 A 3 347 5 17 20 69 South F 28 2 719 43 166 16 63 A 1 55 1 2 28 55 South West F 5 438 9 26 17 49 A 18 1 753 70 118 15 25 CAMEROUN F 377 52 603 - 708 2 080 25 74 A 49 5 190 158 300 17 33 Total. T 426 57-793 866 2 380 24. 67 Source: Planning Division, MINEDUC, Yaounde. Page 2 of 9 TABLE 5 Private preschool education (1989-1990) F - francophone: As anxophone; T = total. PROVINCE Number Number of Mumber Number Students ratioq/ or REGION schools students teachert rooms teachers rooms Adamoua F 8 539 is 12 36 45 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 Centre F 69 12 204 261 191 47 67 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 East F 16 1 178 36 32 33 37 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ext. F 1 97 4 2 24 48 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 Littoral F 136 14 901 457 343 33 43 A 1 75 2 2 37 37 North F 6 591 20 11 30 54 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 North West F 0 0 0 0 0 0 A 2 268 12 6 22 45 West F 44 2 589 111 73 23 35 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 South F 23 1 453 61 42 24 35 A 0 0 0 0 0 South West F 2 201 13 7 15 29 A 11 1 077 72 35 1 31 CAMEROUN F 303 33 753 978 713 35 47 A 14 1 420 86 43 17 33 TOTAL. T 319 35 173 1 064 756' 34 47 Source: Planning Division, MINEDUC, Yaounde. Page 3 of 9 TABLE 5 Public primary education (1889-1990) F trancophone; A a anAlophone: T = total. PROVINCE Number Number Number Number Students ratios or REGION schnnkR stuAents teachers rooms teAchers rooms Adawaoua F 197 45 872 842 781 54 59 A 2 653 15 8 44 82 Centre F 916 257 218 5 436 4 856 47 53 A 13 6 359 226 127 28 5 -'il East F 404 76 591 1 680 1 850 46 41 A 2 440 8 7 55 63 Ext. North F 575 166 914 2 481 2 474 67 67 A 2 358 12 10 30 36 Littoral F 397 169 229 2 959 2 375 57 71 A 12 8001 148 131 54 61 North F 334 85 998 1 151 1 260 75 68 A 1 441 13 4 34 110 North West F 11 4 104 127 59 32 70 A 333 134 776 2 188 2 371 62 57 West F 650 260 212 4 580 4 484 57 58 A 11 4 690 138 93 34 50 Sout. F 552 79 856 2 216 2 244 35 36 A 3 585 44 8 13 73 South West F 16 7 972 199 69 40 116 A 274 107 467 2*017 2 038 53 53 CAMEROUN F 4 052 1 153 973 21 691 20 452 53 56 A 653 2636770 4 809 4 797 55 55 TOTAL= T 4 705 1 417 745 26 500 25 249 54 56 Source: Planning Division, MINEDUC, Yaounde. ?age 4 of 9 TABLE 5 - Private primary education (1989-1990) F * francophonel A manglophone; T a total. PROVINCE Number Number of Mumber 'o Number IStudents ratios/ or REGION schools students teacher rooms teachers rooms Adamsoua F 57 10 161 228 231 45 44 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 Centre F 213 87 211 1 686 2 403 52 36 A 1 413 8 7 52 59 Est F 69 11 761 284 343 41 34 A 0 0 0 0 0 Ext. North F 62 15 187 279 286 54 S3 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 Littoral F 318 113 881 2 511 -2 525 45 4S A 11 7 384 162 7 46 105 North F 22 4 697 96 91 49 52 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 North West F 0 0 0 0 0 0 A 390 110 290 2 259 2 553 49 43 West F 469 88 630 2 136 2 556 41 35 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 South F 59 9 590 316 281 30 34 A 0 0 0 0 0 0 South West F 4 862 27 17 32 51 A 169 68 487 1 312 1 255 52 55 CAMEROUN F 1 273 341 982 7 563 8 447 45 40 A 571 186 574 3 741 3 822 50 49 TOTAL = T 1 844 528 556 11 304 12 269 47 43 Source: Planning Division, MINEDUC, Yaounde. Page 3 of 9 TABLE 5 Public post-primary education (1898-1990) F 4 francophone; A a analophone; T a total. PROVINCE Number Number of Aumber Number Students ratios or REGION schools students teachers rooms teachers roo Adasous F .. 6 396 4S 13 9 30 Centre F 23 2 575 305 121 9 21 East F 14 917 117 60 8 15 Ext. North F 11 628 58 -19 11 33 Littoral F 13 1 348 154 55 9 25 North F 5 423 44 10 10 42 North West A 11 1 177 161 47 8 25 West p 17 1 883 220 78 9 24 South F 13 1.019 125 59 8 17 South West A 10 1 449 151 48 10 30 CAMEROUN F 102 9 189 1 068 415 9 22 A 21 2 626 312 95 9 28 TOTAL a T 123. 11 813 1 380 510 9 23 Source: Planning Division. MINEDUC, Yaounde. Page 6 of 9 TABLE 5 - Public general secondary education (1989-1990) Fa francoPhone; A a anxlophone; T a total. PROVINCE Number, Number of Number Number of Students ratios/ or REGION schools teachers rooms students teachers rooms Adamsoua F 9 133 112 6 890 52 62 A 1 -ke 2 97 6 48 Centxe F 51 1 819 708 56 922 31 80 A 2 130 40 1 820 14 45 East F 19 285 229 10 652 38 47 A 1 14 4 95 7 24 Ext. north F 21 307 279 15 983 52 57 A 1 5 3 50 10 17 Littoral F 28 860 523 31 999 37 61 A 1 29 18 628 22 35 North F 7 166 95 6 905 42 73 A 1 10 4 101 10 25 North West F 1 41 16 988 24 62 A 16 647 .46 16 243 25 66 West F 29 973 574 31 208 32 54 A 1 15 2 316 21 158 Soutk F 21 360 258 11 547 32 45 A 1 3 3 50 17 17. South West F 0 0 0 853 0 A 17 ..599 235 16'490 28 71 CAMEROUN F 186 4 944 2 794 173 947 35 62 A 411 1 470 554 35 870 . 25 65 TOTALx T 597 6 414 3 348 209 817 33 63 Source: Planning Division, MINEDUC, Yaounde. Page 7 of 9 TABLE5 Private general secondary education (1989-1990) F trancophone A a analophone: - = total. PROVINCE Number Number of Number Number of Students ratios/ or REGION achools teachers - rooms students teachers rooms Adamaous F 5 74 52 1 903 26 37 Centre F 48 1 236 534 31 457 26 59 A 1 15 21 381 26 18 East F 8 121 77 2 690 23 35 Ext. North F 4 43 38 1 437 34 38 Littoral F 45 782 .573 35 861 46 63 A 1 6 5 63 11 13 North F 4 81 26 1 832 23 7 North West F 1 9 S 284 32 57 A 38 870 333 19 474 23 58 West F 63 1 026 936 44 498 44 53 A 1 8 10 57 8 6 South F 17 372 195 9 840 27 60 South West A 20 343 205 7 293 22 36 CAMEROUN F 195 3 744 2 436 129 804 35 53 A 61 1 242 574 27 268 22 48 TOTALB T'. 256 4 986 3 010 157 072 32 52 Source: Planning Division, MINEDUC, Yaounde. Page 8 of 9 TABLE 2 Public technical secondary education (1989-1990) F z francophone: A = anglophone; T = total. PROVINCE Number Number of Number Number of Students ratio4A or REGION schools teachers rooms students teachers rooms: Adamaoua F 1 27 4 314 12 79 Centre F 8 504 126 7 636 16 61 East F 4 136 50 1 866 14 37 Ext. North F 3 86 37 1 371 16 37 Littoral F 8 504 176 6 418 13 36 North F 2 92 29 1 260 14 43 North West A 3 185 59 2 675 15 45 West F 6 351 96 4 434 13 46 South F 3 95 35 1 606 17 46 South West A 4. 304 78 4 213 14 54 CAMEROUN F 35 1 795 553 24 905 14 45 A 7 489 137 6 888 14 50 Total = T 42 2 284 690 31_793 14 46 Source: Planning Division, MINEDUC, Yaounde Page 9 of 9 TABLE 5 Private technical secondary education (1989-1990) F = francophone; A = analophone; T total. 1 PROVINCE Number Number ol Number Number of Students ratios or REGION schools teachers rooms students teachers rooms Adamaous F 2 13 8 99 8 12 Centre F 37 756 343 12 496 17 36 East F 4 63 24 747 12 31 Ext. North F 1 11 4 44 4 11 Littoral F 44 1 230 457 21 563 18 47 A 1 13 10 90 7 9 North A/1 0 0 0 0 0 0 North West F 1 9 2 27 3 14 A 24 394 155 5 034 13 32 West F 41 463 456 11 256 25 25 South F 7 13T 42 1 206 9 29 South West F 1 6 2 165 28 83 A 12 273 124 4 646 17 37 CAMEROUN F 138 2 688 1 338 47 726 18 36 A- 37 680 289 9 770 15 34 Total a T 175 3 368 1 627 57 496 17 36 Source: Planning Divisions MINEDUC, Yaounde. Page 1 of I TABLE 6: DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOLARSHIPS ABRUAD ALLOCATION OF SCHOLARSHIPS ABROAD BY FIELD OF STUDY (1989-1990) 1000- St. Coap. SCJ. 2. Sciences. s00- 3. App. Sci. 4i: Medicine. 1o .005 Arts & Soc. Sci. 6. Law & Econ. 7%. C ommun. & TV. 400 -8. Theatre Arts. 9.' Pro-Univ. 200 - 10. Start DeveL. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 '' SUBJECT ALLOCATION OF SCHOLARSHIPS ABROAO; BY COUNTRY (1989-1990) . d 1. FRANCE 50 2 2. GREAT IRITAD. 3. SELGLM. *40 4. F.R.G. 5. NIGERIA. 30. 6. SENEGAL. 20 1 . GABON. 9. OTHERS. 10 O 0.DX.w German democratic Republic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 g F J.0.* Federal Republic ef 0ermany. COUNTRY Page I of i TABLE 7 STUDENT TEACHER RATIOS IN HIGHER EDUCATION Student teacher ratio in the faculties 120 FDSE Ratio 80 81 82 83 .4 5 86 97 88 89 YEAR 20 Ratio ENS - -- - ---------ESSTI ..P.† IRIC , : . . ..------------- . ENSP CUSS · Q 8t 82 83 84 85 96 87 se eg Year Student-teacher ratio in the professional schools • � Page 1 of 1 TABLE 8� EVpLUTZON OF CANDIDATES FOR ТНЕ BACCAI.AUREAT ' AND А LEVELS Л]цМВЕR OF CANDIDATESJADMITTED - BACCALAUREAT ••ввввввиввв.вви.вв.вивинивв...ввввви.в.вв..в.н.и.вв•ивв.ви.в.вви.вв.• . .в.вииивввиииввв а�ооо f• I; сааа� � г25о0 .......ии ........................................... 5.............ввв....вв.. .............и........... А�; тотА -- � 2о0о0 ..............................�...................... ........................ .............,............ nADMITTED Н � I �оо .ввв•ви.•.в•и..ввв..•• .вии•..ви.ви••.в•в и•.вв.•вм•.вв••.••.. •вввви.в.•.ни.вв•вв.. � � .в/ооо .......ии .............. ........................ ........................ ..............и........и �; {lY�4i.�, " ! г�оо .................... ........................ .......,.............. .......................... wгти МакЕ i оооо ........................ .................... .................,... ..й� .. ........... xi �2о EES, 7�оо ..в•.ьв••ивлв•.вв..... .•А�У вв..ии... ••1,�У и...в...••. ..и•ввв.в.•..в.•.в•• �о00 .........ии............ .................... .................... ...................... гgоа .......................... ���......в.. ���......... �.ц,.......... - о l987 i9A8 � i989 iгвvlh tn ihв NtвЬвг в� Csndidatвa t8ff`bA�ь:бestwгвst ••� NtJMBER OF CANDIDATESlAAMITTED - А IEVELS вооа j .. . • �. �• �� Caadidate; 1 ооо •••ви..ив.ввввиевв.••.••...ви..ив.•.и.иив•.и. i.и...ивииииnи.. .ви.ви...вви.•.виввви д�: 1��.а� � � бооо .ии......и..и.......и ...................и..... .........и............ ........и..и.:и....и nAdmitted А .... i �1; Admitt . ~ �ооо .....................в..... ......и................ ...........и.......... .............,.......... Р� . .,, .в•• with тоте <.%в TVo_о •и•иивиинвии.•• .•вив•в..в.ии••ввв..вв. ..вввиивив.. в.в..ви•иивввии•вввв � . 7 points Зооо ивввlви.ивв.ивввв.вввв• •.вввввввввrвв.вввввввввн •вви•вивввввввиввввв•. вв..вввиввви.мввиви.в • j8��jАΡуΡ[� p1g . . Zooo вимвиввввввввввииввви ••вивввввиввивввивввв. • •��iiТiвивввввввви. . •вввв•вви.иввиввввв 1оо° ...ии..и..и...ии.... ��...и...и..... и ..и....и. ••.� ...и..... А11 Ац . о i967 19В8 • 1989 .. iгвvth 1� tM 1iивУвг •� C+nd/d�eвs fвг !hв бС[IA Lвvвl Pasxe 1 o: TABLE 0: DISTRIBUTION OF TRAINING CENTERS BY AREA OF COMPETENCE rjPES OF INSTITUTION A B C D E F G H r J TOTAL AREA OF COMPETENCE MANAGEMENT 9 2 11 7 8 10 4 51 DOCUMENTATION 2 4 LANGUAGES 2 5 ENTERPRISE AND COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT STORE MANAGEMENT MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION ENTERPRISE PROMOTION AND CREATION REGIONAL PLANNING 2 INSURANCE SECURITY 2 2 FISCAL/AUDIT 9 DEMOGRAPHY 1 11 COMPUTERS 1 5 12 3 1 22 WORD PROCESSING 1 5 6 2 8 10 3 1 36 CUSTUM TRANSIT/ 2 1 1 4 PROCEDURES A : NGO F : PRIVATE RELIGIOUS COLLEGE B : PRIVATE TRAINING CENTER G : TECHNICAL-CDUEGE.--.MINEDUC C : CONSULTANT/OFFICE H : RAPID TRAINING CENTER - MTPS D : IENTERPRISE TRAINING CENTER I : MEDICAL T!tAW.NG - MINSANTE E : PRIVWTi-NON RELIGIOUS COLLEGE J : OTHER TRAINING CENTERS Page 2 of-' TABLE 9: DISTRIBUTION OF TRAINING CENTERS BY AREA OF COMPETENCE TYPE OF INSTITUTION AREA OF COMPETENCE A B C D E F G K I J TOTAL TRAINING OF TRAINERS 2 1 1 4 ENVIRONMENT 1 1 MEDICAL TECHNICIAN 1 2 1 2 6 AGRICULTURAL TECHNICIAN/ ARTISAN 6 1 1 2. 10 CLOTHING MANUFACTURING 4 2 3 7 7 6 29 COLD/AIR CONDITIONING 2 3 1 4 1 11 WOODWORK- 5 1 4 1 11 MECHANIC MOTOR AUTO 5 7 3 1 4 2 2 24 MANUFACTURE . ELECTRICITY/ELECTRONICS 3 4 3 1 6 1 1 19 . MASON 2 3 5 2 12 METALWORKS. E 2 2 2 4 2 12 TOPOGRAPHY 1 1 PLUMBING TILING 1 1 HAIRDRESSING SHOEMAKING 1 1 Page 1 of 4 TABLE 10:CHARACTERISTICS OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTERS ACCORDING TO LEGAL FRAMEWORK (IN Z) CFE CC CFPP ONG CFP (5) CFP (6) 1. LEGAL FRAMEWORK (1) (2) (3) (4) MINEDUC Others NUMBER IN SURVEY 19 17 17 18 34 20 2. CONDITIONS OF ENTRY - Tests,exams 41 17 28 12 47 39 - Professional titles 13 10 36 38 46 24 - Company proposal 43 49 31 29 5 21 - Other 3 24 5 21 1 16 3. LAUNCHINC OF TRAINING CYCLES -Needs identified by insti. 53 25 13 24 23 18 -Needs of companies 25 42 28 34 4 11 -Continuous requests 6 19 36 16 2 9 -Fixed cycle 13 14 23 26 71 62 4. KIND OF TRAINING - Apprenticeship 17 3 7 10 11 10 - Formal 4 9 13 12 38 20 - Initial 11 16 15 18 37 32 - Alternated 13 10 15 4 0 10 - On the job 25 14 16 16 1 12 Continued education 15 24 15 16 12 12 -On demand 13 24 16 22 0 2 -Other 2 -- 3 2 -- 2 (1) Enterprise Training Centers (2) Consultant Offices (3) Private Vocational Training Centers (4) Non-Governmental Organisations (5) MINEDUC Centers (6) Other Ministries Centers (MTPS, MINASCOF, MINSANTE) Page 2 of 4 CFE CC CFPP ONG CFP (5) CFP LEGAL FRAMEWORK (1) (2) (3) (4) MINEDUC Ot 5. NATURE OF TRAINING - Short term 76 100 58 58 8 15 - Long term 23 -- 42 42 92 85 - Qualifying 86 100 100 82 42 71 - Certificate provided 14 -- -- 18 58 21 - Self employment 16 50 54 58 78 64 - Retraining 84 50 46 42 22 3( 6. LEVEL OF TRAINING OF BENEFICIARIES - Management 11 18 11 7 - - Middle management 12 20 12 7 - - Supervisory staff 12 15 11 5 2 - Technical staff 12 11 11 9 2 8 - C.E.P.E. 6 3 9 16 47 26 - B.E.P.C. 11 8 14 18 21 23 - Higher secondary 11 10 14 14 21 14 - Baccalaureat 12 10 12 14 6 16 - Other 13* 5 6 10 2 4 7. AVAILABLE LOGISTICS - Xeroxing 89 82 64 78 82 66 - Electronic typewriters 47 53 41 38 3 1 - Computers 42 82 76 56 15 1 - TV-video 73 41 35 66 -- 2 - Overhead projector 73 59 17 72 18 30 8 SPECIALIZED CENTERS -Yes 95 47 76 52 68 90 -No 5 53 24 48 32 10 9. ASSISTANCE TO BENEFICIARIES .Government scholarship 10 -- 12 20 75 53 .Scholarship from int. orga. 10 20 50 60 -- 27 -Other 80t> 80. 3743 20 25 20 Page 3 of 4 CFE CC CFPP ONG CFP (5) CFP (6) Legal Framework (1) (2) (3) (4) MINEDUC 10. FINANCING OF INSTITUTES - State Subsidy 7 -- -- 18 80 64 Inter. Organ. Subsidy 31 13 14 58 8 18 - Company Subsidies 62 -- -- 12 -2 4 - Others 1 87" 86 12v 8 14 11. PARTICIPATION OF BENEFICIARY TO TRAINING - Free -- -- -- 16 44 47 - Paid by Beneficiary 5 48 76 53 50 42 - Paid by Employer 95 52 24 31 6 11 12. Management of Trainers - Permanent 45 47 57 58 73 73 - Temporary 55 53 43 42 27 27 - Hiring based on job experience 34 50 44 41 30 20 - Professional Title 19 20 25 17 14 16 - Study of File 31 30 31 35 30 15 - Hired.Affectation 16 -- -- 7 25 49 - National Technical Assistance 6 6 42 " Outside 68 29 24 72 35 32 " No Assistance 32 65 76 28 58 26 Training of Trainers - Pedagogic Training 32 31 35 45 31 34 - Regular Re-training 39 53 53 33 56 54 - Internship in Company 29 16 12 22 13 12 Pedagogical Supervision Unit Yes 53 82 65 94 97 68 No 47 18 35 6 3 32 * : Self-financing : Donations Page 4 of 4 CFE CC CFPP ONG CFP (5) CFP Legal Frame work (1) (2) (3) (4) MINEDUC 13. FOLLOW UP OF BENEFICIARIES - Yes 78 75 58 94 35 26 - No 22 25 44 6 65 74 14* BENEFICIARIES JOB PLACEMENT - Yes 11 24 29 37 24 26 - No -- 5 Fs 47 73 69 - Already Placed 89 71 6 16 3 5 Contribution of Parents Associations to Financing of Education STANDARD 198911990 1994/1995 2000/2001 Number Total Number Total Number Total Nursery Sch. 92.966 232.415 117.525 293.812 155.705 389.257 Primary Sch. 1.946.301 389.260 2.389.682 477.634 2.934.069 586.813 Secondary General 366.528 733.056 523.755 1.047.510 748.427 1.496.854 Secondary Technical 89.289 178.578 95.717 191.434 102.107 204.214 TOTAL 2.495.084 1.533.309 3.126.679 2.010.390 3.784.603 2.677.139 Source i Service des activit6s post et periscolaires, MINEDUC Yaound4 N.B. 1. The unitary levels of participation per student are fixed at 2500 CFAF for Nursery School teaching, 200 CFAF for Primary and 2000 CFAF for Secondary School; these figures have not changed since 1960. o School Admission Contributions STANDARD 1989/1990 1994/1995 2000/2001 Number Total Number Total Number Total 0 z Nursery Sch. 92.966 185.932 117.525 235.050 155.705 311.406 Primary Sch. 1.946.301 3.892.602 2.389.682 4.779.364 2.934.069 5.868.138 Secondary General 366.528 733.056 523.755 1.047.510 748.427 1.496.854 0 Secondary Technical 89.289 178.578 95.717 191.434 102.107 204.214 TOTAL 2.495.034 4.990.168 3.126.679 6.253.358 3.784.603 7.880.612 Source t Service des activitds post et periscolaires, HINEDUC Yaound4 N.B. 1. The totals are given in thousands of francs CFA; the annual average rate of participation per student is 2000 CEAF; it can vary from 500 CEAF to 10,000 CFAF a year at elsewhere or within the same establishment. 2. The figures given for 1994/1995 and 2000/2001 are the projections. O