The Study Groups and Literacy Programme (Programme de Cercle d’Etudes et de l’Alphabétisation)

The main objectives of the programme are to:

• promote publications in Cameroonian languages in order to create a literate environment and foster a culture of reading and writing within local communities;
• assist local communities in running literacy programmes by harmonising, coordinating, and evaluating activities;
• add to the resources available to the language committees responsible for training trainers and producing teaching materials; and
• initiate research on the standardisation and use of national languages for education development purposes.

The groups that the programme is designed for are:

• adults;
• the economically poor;
• ethnic minorities;
• indigenous peoples;
• rural populations;
• the unemployed; and
• women and girls.

The programme is run in municipalities focusing on one community in each region. The initial phase covers two provinces - Mada and Yemba. The "Study Groups" method focuses on learners. Each group leader acts as a facilitator who stimulates discussion and helps learners achieve the goals set for each discussion topic. Reading and writing sessions are built into the discussions. A period of around two hours (varying according to the needs of each group) is set aside for reading and writing activities.

The organisers say that the method uses both synthetic and analytical approaches. In the synthetic approach, sounds are grouped to form words, which are then combined to create phrases. The analytical method involves breaking down words into sounds and phrases into words. In summary, words are regarded as groups of sounds, and phrases are regarded as groups of words. Learners within the study groups communicate with each other in their native language. In the future, the programme will be bilingual, using native languages alongside the official language, French.

In addition, the study groups encourage learners to discuss a variety of topics, including democracy, income-generating activities, soil improvement, and HIV/AIDS awareness. These exchanges make learners more aware of certain realities and development concepts such as HIV/AIDS or the importance of literacy in everyday life. Some groups have undertaken joint production projects and sell agricultural produce such as onions or tomatoes, demonstrating that exchanges between study groups can lead to joint initiatives. These outcomes were made possible by the open approach taken by study groups, which enables participants to select discussion topics according to their individual needs.

The materials used by study groups depend on the topics selected for discussion in each case. Where materials are already available in a foreign language, the language committee and ANACLAC translate them into a national language and adapt them to the situation of each local community. For instance, one of the two communities has produced an eight-page document on soil improvement. Materials used for teaching purposes only, such as syllabuses, are developed by communities with technical assistance from ANACLAC. Sexual equality is also taken into account when choosing discussion topics. The subjects generally covered are HIV and AIDS, agriculture, embroidery, sexual equality, and basket-weaving.

During reading and writing sessions, syllabaries are used to an extent appropriate to the needs of each group. Within the Yemba community, local radio was used to inform the public about the study groups. Half-hour summaries of study group discussions and lesson content were broadcast to the whole community twice weekly. Learners generally enrol with the help of existing groups. Many learners belonging to these groups see the programme as an opportunity to achieve personal goals such as the ability to fund activities independently, improve the quality of the products they use to make food, and so on. Each year, the programme trains an average of 350 learners from the two communities. The number of learners in each group is determined according to the study-group methodology. According to the organisers, ideally, groups should be made up of 8-12 learners; in practice, however, group sizes are never stable. The number of facilitators consequently depends on the number of groups per village. Teachers are educated to at least BEPC (Brevet d'études du premier cycle) level. They furthermore receive ongoing training in the form of seminars that are held once a year within each community and are paid for by language committees provided that they have the financial means to do so. Most of those recruited work on a voluntary basis.

Literacy, Education

During the first phase of the project, around 120 study groups were formed and a total of 400 people from the two chosen communities were trained. During the second phase, scheduled for the period 2009-2011, 600 people will receive training. According to the organizers, the programme has already helped to build the capacity of language committees through annual training, and they have already produced and translated a wide range of literature on subjects such as HIV/AIDS, agriculture, basket-weaving and embroidery. This has contributed to the creation of a literate environment and therefore a reduction in the illiteracy rate within the communities concerned.

According to UNESCO, Cameroon has no national Education for All or literacy policy in spite of having a fairly high illiteracy rate. The proportion of the population that is illiterate varies significantly according to region, ranging from 44.3% in rural areas to 12.2% in towns. In the Northern provinces and Adamawa, the rates are even higher (60% in Adamawa, 68% in the North Province and 76% in the Far North Province). In addition, UNESCO reports that between 1995-2004 men constituted 77% of the adult literacy rate while women constituted 60%.

Established in 1998, National Association of Cameroonian Language Committees (ANACLAC) is a national non-governmental organisation that regards the use of national languages as an effective tool for education and literacy.