From the education of the body to physical and sports education: paradoxes and issues

Cameroon pre-colonial period witnessed some realities concerning body education due to their rich culture from ancestral practices. This was manifested through the fight for survival, social expression and affirmation. Consequently, it serves as a working tool, an element for socialization and an object of leisure. Education is made up of many practices inscribed in utilitarian, playful and communicative orientation transmitted from generation to generation. Cameroon inherited from France and Britain the teachings of physical education carried out in different forms. Sports was more formalized within schools in the francophone zone and developed as private clubs in the Anglophone zone. This system fundamentally changed the African perception from the traditional heritage of his body. The institution of schools changed the social order leading to a conflict between traditional and western values. Confrontation is obvious and therefore regulation becomes imperative so that rules were adopted to establish discipline in the malleability of the body which is in accordance with the metropolitan way of life. Texts from ELAME Jackson (1967-1969) to the general instructions, attempted programs and official notes gradually structured the lesson of PSE. It was imposed all over the national territory and at all the various stages of education that took competition into account. We however remarked the clairvoyance of Cameroonians recommending flexibility towards these rules. A preoccupation that seems gradually to become a key point for African countries. This study will handle the evolution of PE and sports properly and the place dedicated to ancestral games and sports.