| Expected years of schooling (on average) | 12 yrs |
| Adult literacy rate (people aged 15 and more, both sexes) | 71.3% |
| Mean years of schooling (adults) | 5.9 yrs |
| Education index | 520 |
| Combined gross enrollment in education (both sexes) | 60.4 |
According to data available for 2011, 47.7 percent of girls and 56.7 percent of boys attended primary school. The low school enrolment rate was attributed to cost, with girls' participation further reduced by early marriage, sexual harassment, unwanted pregnancy, domestic responsibilities, and certain socio-cultural biases. Domestic workers are generally not permitted by their employers to attend school. A 2004 government study found there is a large gap between the capacity of the schools and the number of potential students. According to the study, preschools served only 16% of the potential student population. Within the school system, the northern provinces were the most underprivileged, with only 5.7% of all teachers working in the Adamawa, North, and Extreme North provinces combined. The study showed that elementary schools only had enough seats for 1.8 million students, although 2.9 million attended school. After these findings, Cameroonian government launched a three-years programme to construct and renovate schools, improve teacher competency, and provide instructional materials, which was apparently renewed in 2010. Still problems are not to be considered resolved: embezzlement of education funds is considered the main problem in primary education; half of the state primary schools in the sample reported problems with their buildings (only 19% of schools have working toilets, 30% have access to a water tap, and barely 30% have enough tables and benches for students); absenteeism of teachers and poor implementation and enforcement of rules and regulations.