"Bamum School of King Njoya in Foumban" as inscribed on the wooden tablet above the main entrance to the school. Photo 1910.
The school had 500 registered students, both boys and girls. The primary aim of the school was to spread literacy in the Bamum script. Unfortunately, the French closed this school and others like it, leading to a steady decline over the years in the ability to read and write the script.
The Bamum Scripts and Archives Project has embarked on a spirited campaign to spread literacy in the Bamum script among children and youth in schools throughout the Bamum kingdom. We believe it is not enough to preserve our priceless manuscripts in our rehabilitated archives. Unless a new generation learns to actually read and write the script, our thousands of documents and vast amount of inscribed material culture – from graves to public kinglists – will remain silent. Only through reading the Bamum script can we unlock the doors to our Bamum culture and history of long ago. We must transmit knowledge of the script now or the ability to read the script will perhaps be lost forever.
