‘Preventing children from going to school is diabolical,’ says papal representative in Cameroon

YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – At the start of the 2026/2027 academic year in Cameroon, the Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon, Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt, warns against the forced boycott of schools in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.

For the past ten years, the North West and South West regions have been reeling from a separatist crisis, with the boycott of schools a cornerstone of the separatist strategy.

The statistics have been stark. According to UNICEF, the crisis has forced the closure of more than 6,000 schools, affecting more than 800,000 children.

A report by Save the Children indicates that, on average, children in the North West region have lost three and a half years of schooling due to the crisis, and that the number of teenage pregnancies in the North West region has increased by 45 percent because of the crisis.

In addition, thousands of teachers have fled the region, with the World Bank reporting that absenteeism rates in both regions are as high as 50  percent.

According to Human Rights Watch, armed groups have attacked at least 75 schools and abducted over 150 education personnel since 2016.

Bettencourt says children have become the ultimate victims of these developments.

With schools opening their