Religio-economic Culture as a Determinant of Interest in Higher Education Among Mbororo-fulanis in Cameroon

Abstract

The study examined religio-economic culture as a determinant of interest in higher education among Mbororo-Fulani citizens in Cameroon. The study sought to answer two research questions and test two hypotheses with regards to religious beliefs and pastoral nomadism, as indicators of religio-economic culture and interest in higher education. The mixed method research design was adopted and the study made use of the sequential explanatory and correctional research designs. A structured closed-ended Mbororo-Fulani Higher Education Stakeholders Questionnaire (M-HES-Q) of 17 items and a Focus Group Discussion Guide (FGDG) were used to collect data from 357 purposively sampled Mbororo-Fulani Higher Education Stakeholders (M-HES) across the national territory. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of simple frequencies and percentages, and inferential statistics techniques such as Chi-square Test of Independence and Spearman rho correlation. Qualitative data from the FGDG was analyzed using thematic analyses. The results revealed the following: 69.2% of M-HES agreed with the opinion that religious beliefs negatively influence interest in higher education among Mbororo-Fulani citizens, as against 30.8% who disagreed. After verifying the hypothesis, the calculated p-value stood at 0.064, which was greater than 0.005 (rule of thumb). Based on this, the null hypothesis that: “there is no significant influence of religious beliefs on interest in higher education among Mbororo-Fulani citizens in Cameroon was therefore upheld”. Overall, 70.1% of the Mbororo-Fulani stakeholders agreed that pastoral nomadism negatively determines interest in higher education among Mbororo-Fulani citizens. After verifying the second hypothesis, the calculated p-value stood at -0.165, which is less than 0.005. Thus, the null hypothesis which stated that; “there is no significant relationship between pastoral nomadism and interest in higher education among Mbororo-Fulani citizens in Cameroon” was accepted, while the alternate hypothesis was rejected. Concluding from the results, we see that religio-economic culture significantly and negatively influences interest in higher education among Mbororo-Fulanis in Cameroon. However, there is some little hope following government efforts in the basic and secondary education sectors aimed at ensuring the inclusion of Mbororo-Fulani citizens in the mainstream educational system. The main recommendation therefore was on the need for government to continuously work in collaboration with key Mbororo-Fulanis stakeholders (particularly religious authorities) and international partners like UNESCO and the World Bank towards changing the negative narrative through religious and economic cultural adaptation. This is particularly necessary in this era of the quest for national emergence and sustainable international development.