Boosting Cameroon Muslim female school enrollment: Chatting the way forward

Even though Islam emphasizes the right and importance of education unequivocally, access to education for Muslim women has been comparatively low. It is within this context, that the Islamic Education Secretary for the South West Region of Cameroon, Motanga Hans Hilary Hamza organized a one day symposium captioned “Sound education of a girl child, a legal priority in Islam and the security of our schools, assessing the level of implementation in the SWR”. According to Mr. Hamza “There is no chapter in the Koran that prohibits women from going to school. Beyond all reasonable doubt, we are seeking ways within the Islamic community to better the situation of the girl child especially in the domain of education so that they can adequately contribute to the development efforts of our nation. Like it often said, train a girl child, you train a nation”.

Speaking at the symposium that held at the Chambers of the Institute of Education for Pedagogy and Applied Research, the Imam of the Buea Central Mosque Complex, Aboubakar Mohammed, warned members of the Muslim community on the possible application of strict measures to move every Muslim family to get their girl children enrolled in schools. Imam Aboubakar said “all the leaders of the Islamic community are taking part in this symposium. I must say that it is deliberate, since the symposium is holding before the commencement of the school year. We have resolved to do a census amongst all the members of our community and should we find any girl child of school going age not enrolled in any of the schools around, we shall report the parents to the authorities for appropriate actions to be taken “.

The Social and Cultural Adviser at the South West Governors’ office representing the South West Governor at the forum like the representative of the Regional delegate of basic education for the South West, used the platform to reiterate the relevance of gender equity in education and the important role an educated girl can play in the realization of the 2035 Vision fixed for Cameroon to emerge by state authorities.

According to Mr. Tata, the Muslim girl has a lot to contribute for the fruition of the Vision, stressing that this can only be possible by increasing the Muslim female enrollment in our schools. Other stakeholders at the Symposium elaborated underlying challenges that Muslim women face in the community as they struggle to get enrolled in schools, also suggesting strategic roadmaps on how to overcome the challenges. Despite the Cameroon governments efforts to provide free primary education, current figures from the education ministries of the country present staggering imbalances, as girls continue to lag behind their male counterparts.