Abstract

This research work “A survey of female education from the pre-colonial to the colonial period in the southern Cameroon” is aimed at examining the education in traditional pre-colonial southern Cameroon, the African ideology towards the education of women in Southern Cameroon and also how this ideology of female education changed as a result of colonial influence. Both primary and secondary sources were used in the course of this research.

Primary sources include oral interviews and the secondary sources include published and unpublished works.  The study concludes that the natives adopted a favourable attitude towards female education; this led to the enrolment of several girls in the primary and secondary schools created by the missionaries during the colonial period.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Education was seen as a very vital issue in pre-colonial African society; as a matter of fact both men and women were opened to educational opportunities. Education in pre-colonial African society and Southern Cameroon in particular was mostly informal education.

Informal and formal education were available for women, in this connection, female children were skilled for house keeping, cooking, taking care of their husbands and amongst other things. In pre-colonial African society, parents especially wives gave informal education to their females children as they grow up preparing them for marriage. As a matter of fact if women in southern Cameroon thought that educational opportunities would be open to them by the Germans or the British during the colonial periods they were greatly mistaken. This was so because educational priority was given mostly to the male. Colonial masters such as the British came from societies where women were under men and this pattern was transferred to southern Cameroon educational system during the colonial period.

As a matter of fact though schools were open during the colonial era, most of the schools were meant for boys because British believed that education was meant for boys and girls were meant to get married once they reached the age for marriage.

As a result, very small proportion of women went to school. However, due to pressure from missionaries and international organizations like the United Nations, female education has gain good grounds. Fortunately the ideology of female education in most African communities greatly affected access to formal education for female children.

Statement of Problem

Female education in Southern Cameroon during the pre-colonial period was characterized by socio – cultural ideology that the girl child was only good for marriage, that educating her was waste of finance. Moreover, this view was held by the British during the colonial period.

However, the ideology of female education from pre-colonial, colonial southern Cameroon has changed as female children are highly educated. As a matter of fact, this study seeks to show the development of female education in colonial southern Cameroon. This study therefore seeks to contribute in the history of female education and Cameroon history in general.

Objectives of the Study 

The general objective of the study is to look in the system of female education from pre-colonial to the colonial period of Southern Cameroon. From this premise therefore, the study set out to achieve the following specific objectives.

–           To examine informal female education in pre-colonial Africa

–           To examine female education during the colonial period

–           To show how the ideology of female education changed as a result of colonial influence.

Significance of the Study

The study is vital because it is the first since it is centered to the issue of the general survey of female education, it will provide useful insights on the pre-colonial education to colonial female education period and it also shows the change and development of female education in the colonial southern Cameroon.

Scope and Delimitation

This study starts from the pre-colonial era has been chosen as the starting points of work because it will enables us to understand the traditional perception of the education of girls and how these were applied in southern Cameroons. The work ends in the 1960s since it shows a perfect survey of female education in the colonial period in southern Cameroon.

Literature Review

At the secondary level J. O Field, introducing the Southern Cameroon Lagos: Federal International Service, 1960, he focuses on the Queen of the Rosary secondary school Okonyong which was meant for girls and enrolled its first class in 1956 . He reveals that this was one of the few schools in Nigerian Federation which in academic studies also makes provision for commercial training. This work is vital because it shows the role of missionaries played in female education.

In addition, P. M Kale  in political evolution in Cameroon cites a letter written by Dr. Endeley in 1944 to the Eliot commissioner for Higher Education. Endeley decries the absence of female secondary education in the southern Cameroon that made girls to go to Nigeria as “worse” situation because a girl’s character can be more easily manager. This work will help us look into female education during the colonial era in southern Cameroon as a development.

Also, Mbile  describes how in 1939 he and two Cameroonians were selected to study in Nigeria and two of them were offered scholarship in Nigeria and two of them were offered scholarships. None of the three was a girl which was bad. This shows the neglect of female education by the colonial government which spurred the missionaries to begin to address the issues thereby contributing to change of ideology on female education. This work broadens our knowledge about the factors that led to the change of ideology on female education.

Furthermore, Emmanuel Aloangamo Ako, Tambi Eyong Etah, Mbuagbaw Robert Brain, Robin Palmer and Victor Julius  discusses the educational sector in southern Cameroons. Fanso  examines the difficult secondary educational environment in the Southern Cameroons in which Southern Cameroonians travelled to Nigeria to write entrance examinations in to secondary schools, “which they might not even pass”.

However, this work seeks to look generally into the survey of female education from pre-colonial to colonial southern Cameroon.

Sources and Methodology

The study made use of both primary and secondary sources, primary sources are materials that are still in their original form and have not been a bridge. Secondary sources are materials that are products of writer use of an interpretation and analysis of primary sources. Primary sources obtained from the national archives Buea, include assessment and reassessment reports. They also include oral interview carried out from informants. Secondary sources include books from authors of Cameroon History and autobiographies.

Organization of Study

The study is divided into the three chapters a general introduction and a general conclusion. The general introduction contains the statement of the problem, objectives of the study among others. Chapter on examines female education in pre-colonial Africa, it focuses on education of boys and girls, type of activities of boys and girls.

Chapter two discusses western ideology of female education and chapter three shows the change of ideology of female education in colonial southern Cameroon and the history of Cameroon in general as many females went to school during the colonial period in British Southern Cameroon.

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