Sahel EDU

Understanding Cameroon’s education system: cycles, sub-systems, exams and bodies

Cameroon’s education system combines two sub-systems, francophone and anglophone, general and technical education, exams run by three separate bodies and an administration shared between two ministries. Here are its cycles, its exams and its key figures, with their sources, then what school management software must respect.

The cycles: from nursery to the upper secondary cycle

The general framework comes from the 1998 education orientation law, which sets out two sub-systems, bilingualism and a ban on corporal punishment. Basic education, which covers nursery and primary school, comes under MINEDUB; secondary education, general and technical, comes under MINESEC.

Within a primary level (SIL and CP, CE1 and CE2, CM1 and CM2), promotion is collective; repeating a year is exceptional and happens at the written request of the parent.

Nursery: two years under the official framework (ages 4 to 5); in practice, three or four sections.
Primary: six years (ages 6 to 11). SIL, CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, CM2 on the francophone side; Class 1 to Class 6 on the anglophone side.
Lower secondary, general: four years, from the 6e to the 3e (francophone); five years, Form 1 to Form 5 (anglophone).
Upper secondary, general: three years, 2nde, 1re and Terminale (francophone); two years, Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth (anglophone).
Technical: a four-year lower cycle leading to the CAP; an upper cycle by competitive entry, with the probatoire and then the technical baccalaureate or the technician’s certificate, the BEP and the professional certificate.

Francophone, anglophone and bilingual sub-systems, general and technical series

French and English are the two official languages, on an equal footing. The second official language is a subject from primary school, and there is a bilingual BEPC and an ABI series (bilingual A4). A bilingual school teaches in both languages, as a whole school or by section.

The upper secondary general francophone series are A1 to A5, ABI, C, D, E, TI, SH and AC. On the technical side there are F1 to F8, the STT series (ACA, ACC, CG, FIG, SES), the technician’s certificate, the BEP and the professional certificate. The coefficients by series and by year of the general upper cycle are set by a 2022 order.

Francophone: all teaching in French, with English as a subject.
Anglophone: the GCE programme, from Form 1 to Upper Sixth, with French as a subject.
Bilingual: a school or a section that teaches in both languages.
Technical: industrial and commercial series, BT, BEP and professional certificate.

The exams and the bodies that run them

Three separate bodies run the exams. The BEPC is compulsory to enter the 2nde. To register, a candidate needs their unique student number, their birth certificate (a missing one blocks registration for the CEP and the FSLC) and, for the Baccalaureate Office, 4×4 photos; their status is regular candidate (CR), private candidate (CL) or evening-class candidate (CS).

Candidate lists go through state platforms: Epim’Exams for the Baccalaureate Office, Spider for the DECC, and cartescolaire.cm for the unique student number. A school that neglects to register its students or that commits fraud risks having its registration suspended.

CEP and FSLC, at the end of primary school: MINEDUB.
Entrance competition for the 6e and Common Entrance: MINESEC, with national papers.
BEPC (ordinary and bilingual) and CAP: the DECC, the MINESEC directorate for exams, certification and competitions.
Probatoire, baccalaureate, technician’s certificate, professional certificate and BEP: the OBC, the Cameroon Baccalaureate Office.
GCE Ordinary Level and Advanced Level, TVEE: the GCE Board, in Buea.

Assessment: terms, annual average and report card

A joint order sets the school calendar every year. The 2026-2027 one has three terms, with at least two harmonised summative assessments per term in secondary school; the word “sequence” has disappeared from the text, but schools still say sequences 1 to 6. Marking is out of 20, and the annual average is the average of the three terms, because the end-of-third-term composition is replaced by the annual composition.

The report card carries the name, first names, date of birth, class, whether the student is repeating, the mark and remark for each targeted competency, the head’s signature, the parents’ signature and, on the annual report card, the class council’s decision. Each teacher’s summary sheet of marks is archived. Class sizes are capped at 50 students in secondary school, 60 in primary school and 30 in nursery.

Key figures and what software must respect

The official statistical yearbooks give the order of magnitude, for different years: cite them with their source. Sahel EDU is designed in Ngaoundéré for this system, with one honest limit: coefficients for the general upper cycle are pre-filled, but those for the lower cycle, technical, anglophone and Arabic streams are for the head to confirm.

Nursery: 596,197 students in 12,468 schools, about two thirds of them in private schools (basic education yearbook 2021/2022).
Primary: 4,944,290 students in 22,074 schools, about a quarter of them in private schools (same yearbook).
Secondary, general and technical: 2,201,123 students, about a third of them in private schools (yearbook 2024/2025).
4,799 open secondary and teacher-training institutions, 1,879 of them private (same yearbook).
For software: terms and sequences, a complete report card, the summary sheet, the unique student number recorded and never invented, distinction thresholds the school can adjust.
Sahel EDU prepares candidate files to check against the official file, but it does not replace official registration and sends nothing to the state platforms.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

How many sub-systems does Cameroon’s education have?

Two: the francophone sub-system and the anglophone sub-system (GCE). Some schools or sections are bilingual and teach in both languages.

Who runs the baccalaureate and the GCE?

The baccalaureate is run by the Cameroon Baccalaureate Office (OBC) and the GCE by the GCE Board, in Buea. The BEPC and the CAP come under the DECC.

How many terms are there and how is the annual average worked out?

The year has three terms, and the annual average is the average of the three terms.

Is the BEPC compulsory?

Yes, to enter the 2nde.

Does Sahel EDU send candidate lists to the state platforms?

No. It prepares files to check against the official file, which the school submits itself; it does not replace official registration.

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