Salary Suspension, Query Letters, and Teacher Anxiety in Crisis-Stricken North West Region, Cameroon

Abstract

During the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon’s North West Region between 2016 and 2025, administrative sanctions meant to ensure school functionality instead triggered a secondary crisis: a collapse in teacher mental health. This study revealed that measures intended as discipline had effectively become "psychological weapons" against teachers. Using a mixed-method approach which includes surveys of 390 teachers and 10 principals of secondary schools using a structured questionnaire and an interview respectively, researchers analyzed how salary suspensions and query letters fuel professional anxiety. The findings are stark: 63.6% of teachers identified salary suspension as a primary driver of distress, with 80% living in constant fear of losing their livelihoods. Statistical analysis confirmed that financial sanctions are significant predictors of heightened anxiety (p<0.05). Similarly, query letters serve more as a source of trauma than correction. Nearly 67% of respondents linked these letters to increased anxiety, and 68.7% described their application as abusive within the context of the socio-political crisis. Regression results further proved that query letters have a statistically significant positive effect on teacher anxiety levels. The study concludes that current administrative practices destroy morale rather than restore order. To safeguard educational stability, the researchers urge authorities to abandon financially crippling penalties. Instead, they recommend a shift toward supportive human resource management, prioritizing collaborative problem-solving, psychosocial support, and health and safety guarantees to protect those on the front lines of the classroom.