ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE | Sept. 20, 2025
Railway Transport Sustainability and Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Cameroon
Tufoin Kilian Diang, Tende Renz Tchafogwe
Page no 456-465 |
https://doi.org/10.36348/sjhss.2025.v10i09.001
A sustainable and reliable railway transport system is quite pertinent in instigating production and distribution of goods and services especially in far-off enclave areas. However, the operation of this transport sector in Cameroon is yet to come to its prime. It is bogged down by a wide range of challenges which cuts across delays, poor infrastructure, and accidents occurrences linked to poor management which sometimes results from the use of old-fashioned and worn-out engines/wagons. This is in sharp contrast with other developing countries who uses Metro and TVG (Train à Grande Vitesse). This study was therefore designed to investigate into these challenges and point out key areas to ameliorate. Methodology used involved secondary and primary sourced data. Secondary data was germane from published and unpublished sources such as the Cameroon National Railway Mater Plan, Camrail website, related articles amidst others. Primary data was gotten from field studies where observations and interviews were conducted to draw insights about the Cameroon railway sector in view of the sustainability and challenges. The processed data revealed that, in terms of management, delays and late arrivals of trains based on time schedules was common. More so, frequent occurrences of accident results from poor management (overloading) the case of Eseka on October 21, 2016, along the Yaoundé-Douala railway line. Apart from overloading and accidents, infrastructure is poor especially railway tracks which lacks sufficient maintenance. More so, it was observed that, rail infrastructure since 1999 when Camrail began its operation under Boloré African Logistics, infrastructure have been a deteriorating base on observations and comparison before Camrail emerged. This study, however, strongly recommends, increase investments in Cameroon railway lines through upgrading of infrastructure, and most importantly the introduction of electric trains such as TVG and Metro which are efficient and swift to meet the needs of increasing population and to meet agenda 2035.
This review offers a critical analysis of “Language Education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and Opportunities in Language Pedagogy and Policy” ISBN: 978-3-031-91442-3, edited by Ali H. Al-Hoorie, Connie Mitchell, Tariq Elyas and published by Springer Nature Switzerland in July 2025. As part of the English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy series, the book investigates the major educational reforms underway in Saudi Arabia through the lens of Vision 2030, emphasizing English’s evolution from a marginal academic subject to an essential component of national progress and modernization. The twelve chapters present a comprehensive exploration of diverse topics, including classroom dynamics, teacher development, and systemic policy shifts, illustrating the complexity of language education transformation in the Kingdom. The review commends the book’s broad analytical scope, methodological rigor, and contribution to global scholarly discourse, while also identifying gaps in its coverage of longitudinal data, regional variation, and deeper critique of policy trends. Ultimately, this volume stands out as an important scholarly resource for research on applied linguistics, language policy, and English education in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region.
REVIEW ARTICLE | Sept. 27, 2025
Policy Recommendations for Promoting the Integrated Development of Education, Science and Technology, and Talent During the 15th Five-Year Plan Period
Shengwen Yan
Page no 470-475 |
https://doi.org/10.36348/sjhss.2025.v10i09.003
Promoting the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent has important strategic value. It is the only way to break through key core technologies and serve the country's high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and strength. It is an urgent need to seize new technological tracks and shape new competitive advantages. It is a key strategy to accelerate the integration of the four chains and empower the high-quality development of the economy in the new era. However, the fragmentation and insufficient development of the education, science and technology, and talent system affect the innovation vitality and efficiency. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, in order to promote the high-quality development of employment, it is necessary to aim at national self-reliance and strengthen the top-level design and overall coordination of the integrated reform of the education, science and technology, and talent system and mechanism. Aim at national strategic needs and give play to the important role of the new national system in promoting the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent. Face frontier fields and future industries and explore and practice new organizational forms of scientific and technological innovation. Pool global education, science and technology, and talent resources and build an open ecosystem for the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE | Sept. 29, 2025
Beyond Burnout: A Counterintuitive Analysis of how Strain-based Work-family Interference Strengthens Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment in Pakistan’s Academia
Rukhasana Sharif
Page no 476-487 |
https://doi.org/10.36348/sjhss.2025.v10i09.004
The dominant discourse in organizational psychology is that work-family conflict is an un-defeated adverse with the effect of burnout, lesser job satisfaction, and low organizational commitment. This paper dispels that notion by revealing an intricate and counter-intuitive fact among university professors in Islamabad, Pakistan. We have used a solid quantitative, correlational study to survey 206 social science teachers in order to deconstruct the subtle relationships between the six specific dimensions of work-family interference (Time, Strain, Behavior-based both Work Interference with Family - WIF and Family Interference with Work -FIW), and the three different components of Organizational Commitment (Affective - AC, Continuance -CC, Normative - NC). We have found that there is a high overall positive correlation between Work-Life Balance (WLB) and Organizational Commitment (OC) (r =.325, p <.001). Nonetheless, the most impressive and theoretically important result was the always strong and positive correlation of Strain-based interference (both SWIF and SFIW) with the three OC components. The climax to this observation was that the strong relationship between Strain-based WIF (SWIF) and Normative Commitment (NC) (r =.357, p < .01) indicated that the fact that the faculty is stressed and tired because of their line of professional duties is a trigger to an internal moral obligation to stay in their institution. This "Paradox of Strain" suggests that in the environment of Pakistani public universities, where resources are limited and the faculty members usually work under a high level of pressure, strain can lead to the development of the sense of duty, a sense of perceived investment, and emotional attachment instead of its destruction. The paper not only adds a new theoretical insight to the existing WLB-OC research, but also offers important, practical insights that can guide university administrators in retaining and engaging their most valuable asset their faculty by changing the way they conceptualize and deal with strain at work.