The Need to Promote Peace Education in Cameroon

It is the desire of every nation and people to be in peace. Unfortunately there are many challenges to peace. Cameroon, a beacon of peace in Central and West Africa, is plagued with a series of conflicts. Some of these conflicts include; Boko Haram insurgency in the Far North Region of the country, sporadic cross-border attacks perpetrated on the population in the East Region of the country by rebels from the Central Africa Republic (CAR), the post-2018 presidential electoral crisis orchestrated by the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CMR) in several French-speaking regions of the country, inter-ethnic conflict between the Mbessa and the Bawock community, the lingering Anglophone Crisis plaguing the North West and the South West Regions of the country, and the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has adversely affected the country’s economy and other sectors of national life. All these are clear indications that there is no peace in Cameroon. To teach, nurture, and reduce or eliminate a culture of violence in Cameroon, one possible way is to promote peace education. Peace education can transform people’s mindsets, values, attitudes, and behaviors that could lead to peace.