Yaounde:As World Teachers' Day is celebrated, Cameroon has succeeded in recruiting 18,000 teachers. However, many recruits still face a delay in being integrated into the state payroll, based on data from a December 2025 World Bank assessment.
According to Cameroon News Agency, the World Bank's Education Reform Support Project revealed that out of 16,260 teachers recruited in the first five waves, only 74.51%, or 12,116 teachers, were registered and receiving salaries. This left 4,144 recruits, approximately one in four, awaiting further processing at the time of the assessment.
The sixth recruitment wave added 3,362 nursery and primary school teachers, enabling the project to meet its initial recruitment target. Nonetheless, the persistent delay in formal registration and access to state salaries remains a significant challenge for the newly appointed teachers.
This situation brings a new perspective to this year's World Teachers' Day, emphasizing the need to protect the teaching profession and enhance teachers' status. The World Bank data highlighted that the issue extends beyond recruitment to ensuring that newly hired teachers are promptly registered, paid, and retained within the education system.
Cameroon is also preparing to address a future staffing challenge. The government is considering recruiting an additional 6,000 teachers in 2026 to address a projected shortfall due to 9,612 teachers expected to retire by 2030.