“(Business in Cameroon) - The proportion of children attending private schools ranges from less than 5 percent in Burundi, Mozambique, and South Africa to more than 30 percent in Cameroon, Mali, and Togo.” These figures are contained in the recent 2020 African Economic Outlook published by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

According to the same source, this “growth of private education may, in part, reflect the negative perception of the quality of public schools.” This means that in Cameroon and in many African countries, the deterioration of the quality of education in public schools is leading parents to place increased trust in private schools.

This growing interest in private education, according to the AfDB, can be observed at all levels of education. “The percentage of enrolment in private primary schools increased from about 6% in 2007 to 11% in 2017, and in private secondary schools from 8% to 15%. Enrolment in private higher education institutions has increased fivefold, from 3% to 16%,” the report states.

On the continent, “private schools still represent only a small percentage of the total number of education service providers. While they are rapidly gaining ground in Africa, where their number has almost doubled in ten years, they are not as widespread as in Asia and Latin America,” the AfDB points out.

BRM