Global Journal of Human Social Science, E: Economics, Volume 22 Issue 4

Does the Academic Performance of the Francophone Education Subsystem Exceed that of the Anglophone Education Subsystem at Primary Level? Evidence from Cameroon Mafang Lionie α , Fomba Kamga Benjamin σ & Tafah Edokat Oki Edward ρ Abstract- This paper aims to implement the differences in academic performance between students in the francophone and anglophone education subsystems at primary level in Cameroon. Using data from the Programme d’Analyse des Systèmes Educatifs de la Confemen organised in 2014, the study employs a two-stage modelling approach. Firstly, the estimation of educational production functions by OLS shows that student characteristics and school context are important determinants of students achievement in the anglophone and francophone subsystems. Second, the Oaxaca-Blinder (1973) decomposition method showed that at the end of the primary school year, students in the francophone education subsystem perform better than those in the anglophone subsystem. The share of explained factors contributes to increase this differential to more than 100% in both mathematics and language, therefore, it does not matter how much the unexplained share is given, it does not suggest the existence of discrimination in school performance towards the anglophone subsystem. This calls for policy makers to consider their role in reducing the various sources of inequality among students of all kinds, particularly that focused on the linguistic-educational subsystem. Keywords: student achievement, francophone subsystem, anglophone subsystem, primary, cameroon, oaxaca and blinder. I. I ntroduction tudies on the comparison of student outcomes are widespread in the field of economics of education. However, research on comparative studies that index the language criterion is more focused on bilingual or multilingual countries. Depending on the level of development, the issue is addressed according to the status of language in the country. Indeed, in developed countries, more specifically in Europe or America, the work discussed compares student outcomes according to ethnicity, community or language region (Sibano & Agasisti, 2013; Edgerton & al., 2008; Vandenberghe, 2011; Tomul, 2009; Hirt, 2008; Ning & al., 2016). One of the issues addressed in this comparison universe is that of examining the factors that contribute to the difference in educational outcomes between students according to any of the above-mentioned comparison criteria. In the context of developing countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, most of which have been marked by colonial history, the language of education is a criterion for differentiating pupils. Depending on the language of the colonising country, these countries have adopted foreign languages as a means of teaching and learning in their education systems. A distinction is made between countries that use a foreign language in parallel with a local language as a medium of instruction (the case of most East and West African countries) and countries that use only one or two foreign languages as a medium of instruction. In the light of these different classifications, there are countries with unilingual systems and countries with bilingual education systems. Cameroon presents a rather particular context insofar as bilingualism refers to the coexistence of two distinct educational subsystems, one French-speaking and the other English-speaking. The Cameroonian education system is therefore the consequence of the dual French and British colonial heritage. Indeed, Cameroon has been under German protectorate since 1884 and the fact that the latter lost the First World War in 1916 led to the retrocession of Cameroon to the two victors of this war, thus causing the splitting of Cameroon into two parts, namely an eastern part, administered by France and a western part, administered by Great Britain. The two powers had very disparate modes of administration and their respective languages (french and english) were used in each of their territories. After the proclamation of the independence of African countries in the 1960s, Cameroon was obliged to review its educational policy, and this change required both a new orientation in education and a reorganisation of the school system that had been put in place during the colonial era. Following the reunification of 1 st October 1961, the country proposed a policy based on bilingualism in an effective way; and it was at this time that the problem of compatibility of the educational subsystems in the country arose. S © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue IV Version I 41 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 E Author α σ : University of Yaoundé 2-Soa, Faculty of Economics and Management. e-mails: maflionie@yahoo.fr , fomba1@yahoo.fr Author ρ : University of Bamenda, Faculty of Economics and Management. e-mail: edokat@yahoo.fr