Critical Issues in Developing Skills for the Digital Economy: The State of Policy in the Ministry of Secondary Education in Cameroon

Yvan Rony Engozo’o^1, , Innocent Fozing² and Roselyn Mutia³

¹Postgraduate School for Social and Educational Sciences, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon

²Higher Teachers’ Training College, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon

³Faculty of Arts, Letters and Human Sciences, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon

Cite this paper:
Yvan Rony Engozo’o, Innocent Fozing and Roselyn Mutia. Critical Issues in Developing Skills for the Digital Economy: The State of Policy in the Ministry of Secondary Education in Cameroon. American Journal of Educational Research. 2023; 11(6):372-380. doi: 10.12691/education-11-6-5

Abstract

The dynamics of the digital economy constitute the central thesis of every education policy within the context of the trending the fourth industrial revolution. This implies that the focus of every education and training policy should be geared towards the development of skills for the digital economy. Despite being cognizant of the above premise, it has been observed that the Ministry of Secondary Education lacks a strong technology policy and practice for teaching-learning geared towards the development of skills for digital economy. This study is set to evaluate the extent to which educational technology policy and practice develop digital economy skills on high school learners in government secondary schools in Cameroon. The methodology constitutes a mixed approach, with the purposeful sampling used for the selection of policy makers and planners at the Ministry of Secondary Education. The stratified random sampling was used to obtain information from high school managers, high school teachers, high school graduates pursuing studies at the University of Yaounde I. The data were analyzed with content analysis. The results revealed existing but poorly designed technology policies and plans for secondary schools in Cameroon. Policy implementation presented an unprecedented gap at all levels. As a result, recommendations have been made to policy makers and planners/education managers of ICT in education to bridge the said gap.

Keywords:
technology policy in education digital economy skills ministry of secondary education

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