Emmanuel ITONG A GOUFAN || Bruno Ludwig BESSALA NDZIÉ BELINGA || Nathalie MPECK
Volume: 13 Issue: 04, 2025
Abstract:
Inclusive education is not effective in most public primary schools in Cameroon. This is particularly evident in the Dja and Lobo division with regard to the schooling of Baka pygmies. The reason given is that nursery and primary school teachers lack the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to effectively support these socially disadvantaged or handicapped children, who, according to them, should rather be directed towards specialised or integrative institutions. However, critics argue that this stance reflects a low sense of personal efficacy. Evidence for this would be the good results achieved by their peers in private institutions. This controversy surrounding the competencies of primary school teachers in both types of education is intense and uncomfortable as the arguments from both sides are relevant and well-founded. Nevertheless, a decision must be made. The hypothesis to be tested here is that Baka pupils in private schools achieve better results in assessments than their counterparts in public schools. To achieve this, we examined the variance in academic performance of these pupils in relation to the level of perceived Sense of personal efficacy among their respective teachers through documentary research. The results we obtained led us to conclude that professional commitment, love for children and childhood, vocation, and professional awareness enhance the competencies of these teachers in inclusive education; that Sense of personal efficacy does not substitute for the knowledge of specialised educators; and that school inclusion in a regular education context depends on the degree and type of disability the child suffer from.