Publish at October 14 2025 Updated October 14 2025
Generally speaking, our first personal activities develop when we are in elementary school. They don't depend on us, but mainly on the adults who are responsible for us. They mainly concern play or leisure activities. In some African contexts, they are not playful but economic: the aim being to make money to either contribute to school expenses or take care of oneself.
So, once you've left the classroom, you head off to your parents' store to sell things, carry a tray of fruit on your head, wash dishes in your parents' little restaurant, work in the fields, and so on. This resourceful approach develops in adolescence and continues into adulthood. The older we get, the more autonomous we become, and the better we orient our choices.
In junior high and high school, we continue our parallel activities, school being the main activity. From elementary school through to university, it's generally the other activities that are considered parallel, but increasingly, we're seeing that many professionals are studying alongside their jobs. So why and how do studies become a parallel activity? How can you succeed?
First of all, let's be clear about what we mean by parallel activities: any activity that you carry out without it being your main activity. In terms of occupation time, it is less time-consuming than the main activity. This clarification is all the more necessary as students are generally the most concerned. According to INSEE, in France, "in 2020, 5% of students, i.e. 146,000 young people, held a student 'job' in parallel with their studies: they work part-time, their job being neither an apprenticeship, nor an internship or externship in a medical profession, while continuing their studies as their main occupation".
But for the purposes of this article, I'm not so much interested in students as in professionals; better still, I'm interested in those whose studies are not their main activity. These include, among others, those professionals who are pursuing a master's, doctorate or bachelor's degree for a variety of reasons.
Between 2012 and 2016 at the University of Dschang in Cameroon, more specifically in the psychology stream, among 100 students there were around 20 elementary school teachers. The three I knew came from Baham, a town about an hour's drive from the city of Dschang by motorcycle, when traffic conditions are good.They came on certain working days after the end of elementary school classes, but were more regular on Saturdays, their preferred day, as this was a day when they weren't supposed to be at school.
Teachers aren't the only ones who do it. I know "men in uniform": policemen, gendarmes, soldiers etc. enrolled in bachelor's or master's degrees in order to move up the ranks in the case of law enforcement or the army. It's certainly not just in Cameroon that this is happening; in other countries, policies have been put in place to facilitate this state of affairs.
In France and other European countries, there is what is known as "l'alternance". Students spend half their time at work and half at school. But in this analysis, we're more concerned with those workers who don't have these facilities, i.e. the derogations that enable them to pursue their studies. How can they manage this parallel life based on studies?
Having obtained several of my diplomas in parallel with a main job, I'd like to suggest a few tips for people wishing to pursue their studies while working.
There are many reasons for studying as a sideline. We've already mentioned the case of teachers and men in uniform who wish to change grade and see their salaries rise. The motivation is not solely pecuniary. There are also those who want to change their field of activity, but can't give up the job they're doing because it's the only one that not only enables them to pay the bills, but also to finance their studies. The motivation is therefore a change of field of activity.
Another motivation may be just to get a degree. In 2018, during an interview with the Spanish ambassador to Egypt, Gil Ramon Caceres told me he wanted to do a master's degree in literature and was asking me for advice on a program in African literature. He just wanted a degree in a field he was passionate about.
This is the case, for example, for many people who wish to obtain a doctorate and therefore pursue a thesis in parallel with their job. So it's important to identify the reason, the one that motivates you to hold out for two, three or more years for a bachelor's, master's or doctorate degree.
A human being has only one brain, two arms and ten fingers. If you have to spend 8 hours a day at work, the only way you'll be able to pursue your studies is by devoting your weekends, vacations, evenings and even nights to them. It's a sacrifice you have to accept before you commit yourself.
I once knew someone who, while an elementary school philosophy teacher, braved her Masters in Education with flying colors at Spain's largest distance education university, UNED (Universidad de educación a distancia). By 2025, this university will have around 260,000 students. It offers programs adapted for working students. But it's not the only one: several European universities offer similar programs.
Some programs require a high level of physical involvement on the part of learners. Or, at the very least, that place a premium on fieldwork. This is the case of anthropological studies, for example. So, if you're doing a thesis in anthropology or sociology, you need to make time for fieldwork. It's a question of choosing the right amount of time in harmony with your initial profession, as it's deplorable to devote time to a project that you cut short along the way.
Online programs take the form of MOOCs and do not allow contact with other learners, as is the case with face-to-face or semi-face training. While in some countries communication between teachers and learners is digitized, this is not the case in many universities around the world. If we return to the case of the teachers who went to Dschang, they had established good relations with acquaintances who welcomed them into their accommodation on arrival, and with fellow students who kept them informed of the progress of courses and assessments, and who lent them courses or made copies to give to them. This could be totally disinterested, although they sometimes gave token sums to fellow students who provided these services. In fact, the delegate for this course told me, "I have at least five teachers who regularly give me money to help them".
In any case, studying can become a parallel activity. It's not a question of short courses, but of classic programs: bachelor's degree, master's degree, doctorate.
The motivations that lead professionals to look into this are numerous: changing field of activity, improving one's salary, obtaining a diploma in an exciting field, maintaining an enrolment that allows one to renew one's stay (in the case of migrants) etc. Whatever the motivation or reasons, you need to know how to get organized.
Illustration : Pexels - Pixabay
Most popular distance learning universities
Africa
Europe
Canada
World :
You might also like:
Adapting texts and websites for neurodivergent students
Understanding what surrounds us requires the ability to decode what we see. Some students, known as "neurodivergent" or having a "dys" disorder, have to try every day to grasp texts and websites designed for typical profiles. How about improving their accessibility?
School telecollaboration: rich lessons for students
Remote collaboration in a school setting had to be developed during the covid-19 lockdown. Teachers have had to master many of the applications. Yet, these rapid experiments could have a beneficial effect on this generation that will have learned, from childhood, to collaborate without physical presence.
Artificial intelligences really at the service of teachers
It's hard to remain indifferent to artificial intelligence. In fact, for some time now, some teachers have been using this technology in their teaching. It makes many tedious tasks easier. Rather than prohibiting, we need clear guidelines.
Packaging distance learning courses, or the art of selling the immaterial
Offering a well-packaged, tempting course...
Recognition of prior learning, an effective way to obtain a diploma
Between 2001 and 2008, 56% of the 62,475 students in North America who benefited from prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) went on to earn a degree, compared with just 21% of non-PLAR students. Given the results in terms of perseverance and the volume of courses taken (20% more), PLAR, for both distance and classroom courses, is an option that all institutions would do well to offer their candidates.
