The Challenges of the Secondary Education History Curriculum in Cameroon

Abstract

Educational and curriculum reforms are most of the time prompted by circumstances, including technical, cultural, ideological, political and economic considerations of the role of education in society. These considerations are often the basis of the reform. From this view, the basic assumption is that, intended curriculum reform has usually an impact in terms of positive changes in the fate of the educational system in which it is implemented. In other words, the curriculum reform, namely the history curriculum revision is certainly the effective way through which the educational shortcomings and abuses in terms of content, the teaching method, the assessment method ... could be resolved in order to provide Quality education. This was the main purpose of the 1998 Orientation Law set up in Cameroon in the field of education which ushered in the reform of the hitherto existing curriculum. This article aims to explore the challenges of the history curriculum in Cameroon through the analysis of collected data official documents, field observation and interviews. The study reveals various shortcomings in relation to the curriculum content and teaching method.  The goal of the 1998 orientation Law had been to solve the shortcomings in curriculum content of the previous curriculum by taking into consideration local culture; this however remains unresolved as the status quo is still maintained in the new curriculum. In addition, the complex teaching method disorients not only the teachers but also pupils. From the perspective of content and teaching method; contemporary history should be taught in depth in secondary school, and strategic plan to implement new teaching method should be clearly defined.

Key Words: Cameroon, 1998 Orientation Law, History curriculum, Competency-based Approach