The long-awaited return of classroom activity brings a glimmer of hope to a city that has endured weeks of tension and fear.
The streets of Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s North West region, are once again alive with the voices of pupils and students heading to school. The long-awaited return of classroom activity brings a glimmer of hope to a city that has endured weeks of tension and fear. Yet, beneath this apparent normalcy lies a deeper story one of lost rights, fear, and a generation caught in a conflict not of their making.
The separatist-imposed lockdown, which began on September 8, the official date for school resumption in Cameroon, crippled daily life across the North West and South West regions. Schools remained shut, markets deserted, and families struggled to survive. The prolonged shutdown underscores one of the most troubling consequences of the Anglophone crisis: the systematic denial of children’s right to education.
While lessons may have resumed, the scars of fear and uncertainty remain visible, raising urgent questions about how long the region’s youngest will continue to bear the weight of a conflict beyond their control.
By Saju LINDA
