Motivation du choix des écoles anglophones chez les parents francophones dans la ville de Yaoundé : cas des écoles anglophones et des sections anglophones des écoles bilingues du quartier Melen.

Abstract

Our study focuses on the reasons behind the choice of English-speaking schools among French speaking parents in the Melen district in the city of Yaounde. Indeed, according to Law No. 98/004 of April 14, 1998, the Cameroon educational system is organized into two educational sub-systems, namely: the English-speaking educational sub-system and the French-speaking educational sub-system. These two educational sub-systems converge towards a general mission which is that of training the children with a view of their development and harmonious integration into society. However, it has been observed that the French-speaking parents of Melen increasingly prefer to enroll their children in English-speaking schools, even though the two educational subsystems converge towards the same goals. Therefore, the present study raises the problem of the preference of the English-speaking educational subsystem compared to the French-speaking educational subsystem among French-speaking parents in the Melen district of Yaounde. It is a question of highlighting the stakes of English-speaking schooling for French-speaking children. Our research question is constructed as follows: What are the logics underlying the preference of the English-speaking educational subsystem by French-speaking parents in Melen? We have presumed that: the choice of the English-speaking educational subsystem by French-speaking parents is justified both by the need for real bilingual training for learners than by the flexibility and rigor of the said system; as well as its opened and international aspect. The theoretical model used is composed of two theories namely: rational choice theory and comprehensive sociology. The semi-directive interview method, life stories and documentary research were used as data collection technics, and were complemented by the comparative approach. As for the processing of the data collected, the content analysis was adequate. The results show that French-speaking parents in the Melen district enroll their children in the English-speaking educational subsystem for 04 (four) main reasons: the first is based on the importance of the English language today both in the international and national domains, the second reason is based on the pragmatism of the training given to children in the English-speaking educational subsystem, the third relates to symbolic reasons and the fourth to moral reasons.