Designing Education Policy for Sub-Saharan African Countries: A Comparative Analysis of Global Systems, with Focus on Southern Cameroons

Elizabeth Bifuh-Ambe's book, Designing Education Policy for Sub-Saharan African Countries, focuses on the challenges faced by the English-speaking Southern Cameroons region within Cameroon. The author argues that the current educational system is inadequate, hindering students' development and limiting their potential. Drawing inspiration from global education models, Bifuh-Ambe proposes a hybrid approach that combines indigenous African values with Western tenets. This approach aims to empower Southern Cameroons and, more broadly, Sub-Saharan African countries by fostering critical thinking, problem-solving, and innovation. The book highlights the need for a transformative education policy to bridge the socioeconomic gap between developed and developing nations and ensure Africa's active participation in global affairs.

Elizabeth Bifuh-Ambe, PhD is Associate Professor at the School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Lowell (UML), where she teaches courses in Literacy Development and Clinical Diagnosis and Assessment of Literacy. Before joining UML, she taught at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) and the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), where she got her master's and doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction, with emphasis on Language Arts and Literacy. She received her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Yaoundé and a Post Graduate Diploma in Education at the higher teacher's training college, Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) Yaounde. After graduating from ENS, her first appointment was teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to French-speaking middle and high school students. When her family moved to Niger, she taught Language Arts and Literature at the American School of Niamey, Niger (ASN), West Africa. The American School of Niamey was a vibrant, dynamic kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) school with a very diverse student population representing several nations. In this environment, she honed her skills of being an effective teacher of students from diverse backgrounds. While in Niger, she also served as a UNICEF consultant. In this role, she became aware of the low literacy rates of children in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and across the globe and committed herself to doing something about it. Her research and professional activities focus on improving literacy for underprivileged populations, bringing educational equity, and closing the achievement gaps among learners in school settings within the United States and worldwide. She believes that educators have the responsibility to help all children acquire the critical thinking skills needed to thrive in twenty-first-century workplaces and adapt and live as good citizens anywhere in a world that is fast becoming a global village.