Teachers’ Absenteeism In Cameroon’s Educational System In Primary Schools

And Its Effects On The Pupils

Introduction
Teacher absenteeism is an emerging issue and regarded as one of the major
challenge faced by the system of quality education in different colleges and schools in
Cameroon. In the classroom, a teacher is an essential but inadequate prerequisite for
enhancing learning achievements. Absenteeism, however, significantly prejudice the
children’s learning outcomes in the classroom, demoralize the organizational culture
of the school and shows a major waste of private resources and public finances
(Miller, Murnane and Willett, 2008). Cameroon's education systems that mostly
function on limited resources with weak management systems, and innovative models
regarding the ways to impactful discuss learner and teacher absenteeism are still to be
completely realized.
The phenomenon of teacher absenteeism is complicated. It requires to identify
what would be the meaning of its inverse concept, i.e., teacher attendance. There is a
variation of official workloads of teacher across the continent. In 2010, a study
conducted by World Bank identified variations ranging between 12-32 hours weekly
in 7 Anglophone countries, which are Zanzibar, Zambia, Malawi, Liberia, Lesotho,
Gambia, and Eritrea (Lambert, 2004). In some other countries such as Zimbabwe,
South Africa, Uganda, and Kenya this limit reaches to around 40 hours on weekly
basis (Lambert, 2004). It is required that teachers must reach the school sharply when
the school time starts and remain there till their work time is completed. They can
contact with their pupils in the official time of school timetable, which is managed by
the head of school management. Similarly, head-teachers should attend the school
during working hours, this concept varies among countries. Their duty is to monitor
the attendance of teacher, give them the right to take an official absence and report
and censure teachers who are absent without giving prior notice. If the teacher is not
attending the school in set time, then it is considered as absenteeism as well.
Background
Cameroon was colonized by France and Britain after the partition in 1919 of
the former German colony. In 1961, after its independence, in the country, there was
basically adoption of two main cultures to be used which were also extended to the
country’s educational system, namely the French and English systems. The
curriculum of both systems implemented by the schools was different, different
methods of teaching were uses and different techniques for students and pupils’
evaluation were employed. Although, there were a number of differences in both
educational systems, but both systems are following the similar education calendar
that starts from September till June (Sarauer, 2015).
This research study is based on the Anglophone education system in
Cameroon, more appropriately on the primary level education that is a 6 years course
starting from grade 1-6 and offered by the religious institutions, government, and
private individuals such as joint stock companies, partnership, and sole
proprietorships. The statistics of UNESCO during 2012 shows that in primary schools
of Cameroon, there were around 3,849,000 students, with the 46:1 ratio of student-
teacher that is too high as compared to the average ratio in middle-level countries, i.e.,
26:1. During the academic year 2008-2009, The data given below is published by
Cameroon’s Ministry of Basic education.
Table 1: Distribution of all Primary level Schools in Cameroon

Regions Number of Schools Number of Pupils Number of Class rooms

Adamawa 756 170 021 2 719

Centre 2 553 568 560 14 132

East 807 580 604 7 648

Far North 1 861 184 223 3 391

Littoral 1 540 346 974 9 964

North 1 022 334 591 4 336

North West 1 766 362 646 8 827

West 1 726 464 337 9 706

South 808 120 394 3 528

South West 1 017 218 312 5 553

 TOTAL 13 107 3 350 662 69 804

The Anglophone educational system

The Anglophone system of education is employed only in the English-
speaking regions, which are the South-West, whose capital province is Buea, and the
North-West, whose provincial capital is Bamenda. All education levels are included
in the system, including, elementary or primary school, Secondary (high and middle
school), and tertiary (professional institutions and universities) (Tani, 2018). The time
duration of primary education is 6 years, and students will get their first school
leaving certificate when this period ends.
The total duration of secondary education is 7 years and students can get
ordinary junior secondary level GCE certificate in 5 years. After 2 years of junior
secondary, the senior secondary section starts, and students can get a GCE advance
level certificate after completing the 2-year graduate program (Tani, 2018). At the
final tertiary level, private and state universities provide a range of undergraduate
degrees (BA/BSc/B.Ed) to prospective undergraduate students, along with Masters
and Doctoral level postgraduate degrees.
Literature Review
Transparency International (TI) performed research on the teachers'
absenteeism in primary schools operating in Cameroon (Ngwe, 2013). From the
Center Region, they opted a sample of around 30 government sector primary schools.
According to results, the main reason for absenteeism is because of inadequate
salaries, lack of housing, small pharmacies, and lack of nurseries. This research
recommended that for minimizing the rate of teacher absenteeism, their salaries
should be elevated (Ngwe, 2013).
Previous researches have tried to determine the relevance and significance of
several factors contributing to teacher absenteeism. A recent study conducted by
Tingle et al. (2012) for the relationship amongst student achievement and teacher
absence, has examined the nature of such relationship and the impact of such factors.
Tingle et al (2012) state in the research, “The relationship amongst student
achievement and teacher absenteeism may vary based on the grade level and subject
matter.”
 In many elementary schools, the rate of teacher absenteeism is high in higher
grade classes as compared to lower grades. In secondary level schools, there observed
a connection between the subject taught by teachers and the level of absence from the
class. Half of the teachers of English subject were absent from classes as compared to
other subject teachers. Only 1 out of 10 secondary teachers were teaching more than
one subject in selected schools (Miller, Murnane and Willett, 2008). Many teachers
were teaching a mix of non-core subjects. The rate of absenteeism was more in
teachers who are teaching more than 1 subject as compared to those teachers who are
teaching only a single subject (Miller, Murnane and Willett, 2008).
It is also identified by the research that the learning of students gets disrupted
due to the absence of a teacher. Finlayson (2009) identifies that when there is a
regular pattern of absence of a teacher, then it exerts an adverse negative impact on
the performance of students. According to her research, if a teacher is absent for more
days, then lower will be the test score of students in that class. She calculated the
relationship amongst 3rd-grade student’s score of reading sections and math with 3rd-
grade teacher absenteeism on the Criterion Reference Competency Test (CRCT). She
also highlighted that, as per national policy, the teacher can only be absent from their
class for an average of 10 days in a year.
In most of the developing countries, the discussion is shifted towards the
quality of education comprising the effect of teacher absenteeism. For example, a
recent study conducted in the sub-metro area of Ghana identifies that whenever a
teacher is absent then the learning routine of student gets disrupted (Obeng-Denteh,
Yeboah, Sam and Monkah, 2011). More particularly, Obeng-Denteh tried to check
whether teacher and student absenteeism impact the students’ performance in basic
education certificate examination of Ghana (BECE). The analysis of this research
shows that the absenteeism of student was not important, but the teacher absenteeism
had more impact on the student’s performance on the BECE. Obeng-Denteh
concluded that higher the rate of teacher absenteeism - lower will be the mean score
of the student. Contrary to it, lower the rate of teacher absenteeism, then higher will
be the mean score of student.
Similarly, a nationally representative 4th-grade sample was used by
Suryadarma et al. (2006) which estimates the correlation of the performance of the
student in Indonesia’s public primary schools. The model performance utilizing a
general firm production function model of authors, comprising teacher absenteeism
and estimate different sets of regression for dictation and mathematics score for these
students. They identify that in a mathematics test, there is a correlation between lower
scores of students and teacher absenteeism. This particular correlation was not
observed previously due to the lack of data on teacher absenteeism in Indonesian
schools. There are consistent results having a view that the absence of teacher is either
a symptom or a cause of significant issues related to the achievement of student in the
education field.
The concept of teacher absenteeism has been addressed in light of the
framework given by “Principal-Agent Theory”. This particular theory is not only
employed in the education sector but also used for understanding various models
related to human behavior and job relationships when it is easy and possible to
establish that who is the agent and who is the principal. This specific theory
elaborates how principals, such as the employers of this system, formulate particular
compensation structures to obtain agents, such as employees, in this context, the
teachers need to work in the interest of principals (Laffont and Martimort, 2009).
This particular principal-agent relationship, in education sector takes various
different kinds for teachers, as agents, which can be taken into account as functioning
with various different principals, such as education officials, school principals, and
parents (Laffont and Martimort, 2009). This principal-agent theory is built on the
assumption that the specific interests of agents and principals are probably not aligned
always. Rather than this, parents and principals want to get high efficiency and
productivity of the employee, while on the other hand; employees are looking for
getting more compensation in response to fewer efforts. It is stated by the principal-
agent theory that some schemes are designed by employers as an effort to encourage
their workers to perform in some ways, which are supposed to yield good results
through high efficiency, and productivity levels. As the success of a company is based
on the efforts made by its employees.
Teacher Absenteeism in Caremoon and
Presence of teachers is necessary for a guaranteed success of parents and
students at the school, but if teachers are not present, then the classroom is empty and
there is a high potential for failure. As students won’t be able to complete their course
on time before exam and also are unable to solve difficult questions by themselves,
that will ultimately result in lowering their grades.
 But, this alone is not adequate. By welcoming a teacher in the society makes
him capable to get an excellent social integration and also helps in lowering the rate
of absenteeism (Ngwe, 2013). It is not in accordance with the slogan’s backdrop that
MINEDUB, the Ministry of Basic Education, run a campaign to take action for
absenteeism in primary level schools in Cameroon.
Yousouf Hadidja Alim, the Minister of Basic Education, launched a campaign
recently which is designed to impede this process with the financial aid of the World
Bank as per the Support Programme arranged for the Education System, abbreviated
as PASE in French. The main aim of this particular campaign is to give quality
education in every government primary school (Ngwe, 2013). For obtaining this goal,
the government has made investments in various areas of the education sector.
In this context of eliminating or reducing hurdles to education with the help of
wholesome strategies, the government has planned to increase the construction of new
schools, hiring contract-based teachers, training of teachers, and encouragement of
international access to education as per MGDs, the Millennium Development Goals
(Ngwokabuenui, 2015).
In April 2006, after getting the completion level of the initiatives of HIPC, the
Ministry of Basic Education hired around 40,000 teachers for comping the shortage of
teachers. Due to these and some other efforts, in primary schools, there observed an
upward trend of attendance, i.e. 96.3% in 1990 to around 103% during 2009
(Ngwokabuenui, 2015). This upsurge in the level of attendance is a good sign for
improving the future scores of students in these schools.
The common opinion is that the performance of the student is connected to the
resources volume allocated for the purpose of improvement of the education system.
But, it is also crucial to notice that the performance is based on the regular presence of
teachers, and his pedagogic efficiency i.e., his motivation and skills to perform his
responsibility (Demir and Akman Karabeyoglu, 2016). Although, the massive hiring
of new teachers appear to be a good step, an external and internal evaluation of the
contract teachers programme shows high teacher absenteeism, specifically in the
primary schools. Among the 37,200 contract-based hired teachers, the average rate of
absenteeism is 20% (Ngwokabuenui, 2015).

The proportion of contract based teachers is half of the teaching staff at the
school of the primary level; however, teacher absenteeism is not only related to
contract teachers but also concerned with other teachers. If we follow the map of
absenteeism of contract teachers in Cameroon, the 3 East, and the Northern regions
are impacted most. This condition is a feature of what is commonly termed as the
EPAs, Educational Priority Areas. Statistics shows 19.35% for the Far North, 24.34%
for North, and 20% for Adamawa Regions respectively . The East region of the
country is also facing the teacher absenteeism of 15% from the schools. There are
many reasons reported for the cases of absenteeism (Ngwokabuenui, 2015). Most of
the teachers complain that they need to do frequent travels to follow up on their
specific hiring files.
Mostly, this long process may take up to 3 years for getting paid and thus
takes the teachers as absent from school. Most of them stop working in the scenario of
being away from families. The absence of better accommodation facilities, ill-health
and inadequate access to health services, and a hostile community and school
environment are also few reasons that act as a justification of absenteeism
(Ngwokabuenui, 2015).
Although, persons who are frequently absent from their duty are penalized
regularly, but this is not enough. The strategy of sanction alone without a previous
education, information, and awareness campaign has been observed as ineffective,
particularly as duties in absenteeism are mostly shared. If nothing can be done, then
efforts of government and also those of its financial and technical partners would get
wasted. In this way, various different measures have been envisioned to turn these
tides. This canker-worm which is destroying the education sector should, therefore, be
handled by using a 3-fold strategy to be progressively implemented. Posters and
guides have been developed by the Ministry of Basic Education along with the
collaboration of technical aid given by the consultants and financing of funds by the
World Bank to act as the campaign aids.
The basic rights and duties of various teachers are specified in these guides
that are in both French and English language. The obligations and duties of a primary
schools teacher are to obey the regulations and rules of the primary school, presence
in class, involvement in renovating the regular assessment of students and teaching
methods. While, they are also eligible for the allowances of technical assessment,
among others.
One of the strategies employed to handle the issue of teacher absenteeism is
the program to built homes for teachers. Within this Ministry of Basic Education’s
emergency housing programme’s framework, 10 buildings are under construction in
the Darak and Bakassi zones to house 20 teachers this year.
 For the long-term, within the duration of 3 years, there will be the construction
of more than 240 houses amounting of FCFA 14.5 million each. Also, for limiting
the transfer of teachers chasing document in region Yaounde, the transfer of authority
of the personnel career management is in process (Endeley, 2014).
From the next year onward, there will be the initiation of documents for the
grade change and is applied in almost 10 regions of the entire country. The automatic
treatment already prevails for the advancement of the document in the Ministry of
Basic Education’s concerned department. For getting advancements in carriers,
teachers are no more required to give applications, last advancement decision, or pay
slips. As per the case given, competent services now after every 2 years take
responsibility of upgrading the level of the teacher (Endeley, 2014).
With such type of measures, there is a new hope that now school teachers
would no longer need to have a pretext to leave their primary or secondary schools
and the government should progressively struggle for introducing a system of offering
quality education. Teachers who are not taking their classes should be called upon to
uphold and change values such as assiduity and professional consciousness that will
make the profession of teaching a Nobel profession. Above all these, members of
those communities who are hosting teachers must be called upon to be collaborative
and welcoming.
Recommendations
For handling the matter of teacher absenteeism, there is no particular solution
available. It needs a multi-prong strategy. Given below are a few recommendations:
 Develop efficient practices of school management by school administrators
and heads backed up by incentives for various school communities and even
learners to put the responsibility of absent learners and teachers on schools. In
the office of head teacher, the logbooks of teacher attendance are completed
twice on daily basis and weekly reports should be forwarded to the district
administrators (Porres, 2016). The system of class monitors or
timekeepers amongst the students within a school who will make records of
lesson start and ending time is also an effective measure for tracking the
contact time of teacher as the function of teaching load for the secondary
schools.
 Health awareness programs should be supported as they will favorably impact
the teacher absenteeism.
 Reduce the absence of authorized teacher caused by the administrative orders
and allocate to the head, deputy, or bursar, or arrange such activities after
school hours or during school holidays. Likewise, in-service training ought to
be given in hours other than teaching hours.
 Switch to mobile or electronic banking platforms to permit teachers living in
remote areas to get their salaries without much traveling.
 During the preliminary reforms stages, make possible to employ positive
teacher engagement as it helps in minimizing teacher absenteeism.
 Enhance the working and living conditions of a teacher on a priority basis.
 Introduce different allowances for teachers who are residing in stressful, rural,
or remote areas as an incentive to retain them in schools.
 The school must track the teacher absenteeism in the context of tardiness and
check the absenteeism’s patterns (Sullivan, 2018).
 Make use of ICT based application for reporting the daily basis teacher
absenteeism either through school e-administration systems, electronic
registers, or mobile technologies.
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