Sahel EDU

The vocabulary of Cameroon’s education system, sorted by theme, with Arabic equivalents

This glossary explains in a few lines the words you read on report cards, circulars and summonses in a Cameroon school: ministries, posts, assessment, exams, documents, money. Each term is followed by its English equivalent and its Arabic one. The definitions describe common usage; each school’s internal rules govern its own duties.

How the system is organised, and the ministries

Cameroon’s education system has two ministries for basic and secondary education, two sub-systems of teaching and several types of school. These terms come up in every official text.

MINEDUB (Ministry of Basic Education; Arabic: وزارة التربية الأساسية): it covers nursery, primary, literacy and non-formal basic education.
MINESEC (Ministry of Secondary Education; Arabic: وزارة التعليم الثانوي): it covers general secondary, technical and vocational secondary, and teacher training.
Joint order (Arabic: قرار مشترك): a text signed every year by the two ministries to set the school calendar. It applies to public and private schools, in both sub-systems.
Francophone sub-system (Arabic: النظام الناطق بالفرنسية): a six-year primary cycle, a four-year lower cycle (6e to 3e), a three-year upper cycle (2nde, 1re, Terminale).
Anglophone sub-system (Arabic: النظام الناطق بالإنجليزية): Class 1 to Class 6 in primary, then Form 1 to Form 5, then Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth, with the GCE Board exams. A bilingual school brings the two together.
General and technical education (Arabic: التعليم العام والتعليم التقني): the two routes of secondary school. The technical route prepares in particular for the CAP, the technician’s certificate and the technical baccalaureate.
Private education networks (Arabic: أنواع التعليم الخاص): Catholic, Protestant, Islamic and secular, each with its national secretariat.

People and posts

The same posts carry different names depending on the type of school and the sub-system. The definitions below give the common meaning.

Head of school (Arabic: رئيس المؤسسة): proviseur in a lycée, principal in a collège, directeur in a primary school; Principal in an anglophone school.
Censeur (English: deputy head; Arabic: الناظر): the head’s deputy for studies. They follow the timetable, the teaching, the marks and the report cards, and may represent the head at the class council.
Surveillant général (English: senior supervisor; Arabic: المراقب العام): in charge of school life: the register, late arrivals, absences, discipline.
Professeur principal (English: form teacher; Arabic: الأستاذ الرئيسي): the teacher who follows one class. They hand over the correspondence book with their overall remarks.
Guidance counsellor (Arabic: مستشار التوجيه): proposes, with the class council, where students should be directed.
Économe or intendant (English: bursar; Arabic: المقتصد): in charge of financial and material management: fees collected, expenses, the cash desk.
Proprietor (Arabic: المؤسِّس): the person or organisation that founds a private school and answers for it.

Assessment and the report card

The school year has three terms. The vocabulary has moved on: recent texts speak of assessments, but schools still say sequence.

Sequence (Arabic: التقويم): an assessment period in the year. Common practice has two sequences per term, six a year.
Term (Arabic: الفصل): there are three in a year. The term average is worked out from the term’s assessments.
Coefficient (Arabic: المعامل): the weight of a subject in the average. A subject with coefficient 4 counts four times as much as one with coefficient 1.
Annual average (Arabic: المعدل السنوي): the average of the three term averages, according to the order that sets the calendar.
Rank (Arabic: الترتيب): the student’s place in the class according to their average; equal averages share the same rank.
Competency-based approach, known as APC in French (Arabic: المقاربة بالكفايات): the approach on which the official syllabuses rest. Exam papers assess resources (knowledge) and competencies.
Class council (Arabic: مجلس القسم): a meeting of a class’s teaching team at the end of a period. It reviews the results, decides on distinctions and, at the end of the year, on promotion or repeating.

Exams, diplomas and examining bodies

National exams are run by three different bodies, depending on the level and the sub-system. Their dates change every year: always check the official calendar for the session.

CEP (primary school certificate; Arabic: شهادة الدراسات الابتدائية): taken at the end of the last primary year in the francophone sub-system. Its anglophone equivalent is the FSLC.
BEPC (lower secondary certificate; Arabic: شهادة نهاية المرحلة الإعدادية): taken at the end of 3e. It is required to enter 2nde.
Probatoire (Arabic: الامتحان التمهيدي): an exam taken in the first year of the upper cycle (1re); passing it gives access to the final year.
Baccalaureate (Arabic: البكالوريا): the exam at the end of Terminale, general or technical.
DECC (Directorate of Examinations, Certifications and Competitive Examinations; Arabic: مديرية الامتحانات والشهادات والمباريات): the MINESEC directorate that runs, among others, the BEPC and the CAP.
OBC (Cameroon Baccalaureate Office; Arabic: مكتب البكالوريا في الكاميرون): it runs the probatoire, the baccalaureate, the technician’s certificate and the BEP.
GCE Board (Arabic: مجلس الشهادة العامة للتعليم في الكاميرون): the examining body of the anglophone sub-system, based in Buea: GCE Ordinary Level, Advanced Level and the TVEE technical exams.

Documents and papers

These documents pass between the school, parents and the administration. Several are asked for when registering for exams.

Report card (Arabic: كشف الدرجات): an end-of-period document with marks, averages, ranks, remarks and the class council’s decision.
Correspondence book (Arabic: دفتر المراسلة): a book that travels between the school and the family. At the end of each term, marks are copied into it and the whole is signed by the head of school.
Summary mark sheet (Arabic: البطاقة الملخصة للدرجات): each teacher’s sheet, kept on file, which the yearly order treats as the most authentic basis for marks.
Exeat (English: leaving certificate; Arabic: شهادة المغادرة): a certificate of departure issued by the head of school, asked for when enrolling in another school.
School attendance certificate (Arabic: شهادة مدرسية): confirms that a student is enrolled in the school for the year.
Unique student number (Arabic: رقم التسجيل الموحد): the student’s national identifier, issued by the school-map platform and asked for in exams.
Birth certificate (Arabic: شهادة الميلاد): a document essential for enrolment; without it, a CEP or FSLC candidate cannot be registered.

Money and parents’ associations

A school’s money is divided between what goes to the school, to the parents’ association and to the State. Amounts vary from school to school and do not appear in this glossary.

PTA, known as APEE in French (parents’ and teachers’ association; Arabic: جمعية أولياء التلاميذ والمعلمين): its contributions fund school expenses; no student should be sent away for not having paid them.
Compulsory contributions (Arabic: المساهمات الواجبة): sums set by MINESEC for students in public secondary schools. They are paid outside the school, through designated operators, with the student’s unique number.
School fees (Arabic: الرسوم الدراسية): sums a private school asks for teaching; public primary education is free in principle.
Exam fees (Arabic: رسوم الامتحان): the cost of registering for an official exam, paid to the State and not to the school.
Grant to private schools (Arabic: إعانة للمؤسسات الخاصة): support the State may pay to private schools that meet the conditions.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between MINEDUB and MINESEC?

MINEDUB looks after nursery, primary and non-formal basic education; MINESEC looks after general, technical and vocational secondary education.

Sequence or summative assessment: which word to use?

Recent texts speak of summative assessments; schools and report cards still say sequence. In Sahel EDU, each sequence is a period attached to its term.

What is the difference between the censeur and the senior supervisor?

The censeur follows studies: timetable, teaching, marks, report cards. The senior supervisor follows school life: the register, late arrivals, absences, discipline.

Who runs the probatoire, the baccalaureate and the BEPC?

The OBC runs the probatoire and the baccalaureate, the DECC runs the BEPC. In the anglophone sub-system, the GCE Board runs the GCE.

Does Sahel EDU use this vocabulary?

Yes. The Cameroon report card, sequences, the censeur, the senior supervisor and the PTA are all present in the application, in French, English and Arabic, with fixed translations for each term.

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