L'enseignement technique au Cameroun: Le parent pauvre du système?

Abstract

As soon as it was introduced into the Cameroonian education system, technical teaching and vocational training (ESTP) were the subject of marginalisation and constant disqualification stemming from the pupils and. their parents. This attitude is partly explained by a colonial past, which compared manual work to servitude. Technical teaching was traditionally reserved for those pupils who were too old and/or not gifted enough for the cycle of general secondary studies leading to university and administrative positions of responsibility. In the Nineties, economic tension, connected with a difficult international economic situation for developing countries, among other phenomena, revealed the inadequacy of training/work among many graduates who had neither employment nor specific qualifications. The ESTP then seemed to be the most secure and fastest way to acquire meaningful professional qualification. The occasion was seized upon by the Cameroonian government to reactivate its policy of encouragement and incentive with the ESTP and to create an appropriate infrastructure. The article analyses the current situation of the ESTP and highlights the challenges that the new ministry exclusively in charge of this type of teaching must deal with. © Université de Picardie Jules Vernes.