Migration and Education Experiences of Refugee Children in the East Region of Cameroon

Education is vital and recognized as a universal human right yet more than 70 of refugee children in the East Region of Cameroon do not effectively school. This study investigated the migration and education experiences of refugee children in the East Region of Cameroon. Two hundred and eleven refugee children, two head teachers, seven teachers, ten parents, one regional delegate, two workers of UNHCR, two workers of the Red Cross and two community leaders participated in the study. Both qualitative and quantitative designs were used .Questionnaire, school and classroom observations and individual interviews were used to collect data. Results revealed that academic barriers like absenteeism 79.9 ,fast methods of teaching 58.8 ,lack of academic parental support at home 33.5 ,economic barriers like low socio-economic status of parents 35.5 ,hunger and starvation 36.7 ,socio-cultural barriers 7.7 ,and psychological barriers 14.0 , have a negative effect on effective schooling thereby leading to high dropout rate . informal schooling ,provisional of educational needs, modification of curriculum and pedagogic practices, additional specialized programming ,modeling mentoring by nationals and resident refugees, community participation and a favorable school climate were proposed strategies to overcome these barriers. Collaborative efforts of policy makers, administrators, teachers and service providers to ensure access, quality, equity and relevance in education for refugees were recommended. Mary-Ann Awasiri Takwe "Migration and Education Experiences of Refugee Children in the East Region of Cameroon" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-6 , October 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd18402.pdf