TO: THE PRIME
MINISTER AND HEAD OF GOVERNMENT,
SERVICE OF THE
PRIME MINISTER,
TEL/PHONE:
(237) 22 23 80 06,
FAX: (237) 22
23 57 35
THE REPUBLIC OF
CAMEROON.
YOUR
EXCELLENCY,
SUBJECT:
A COMPLAINT ABOUT ISSUES PLAGUING THE
ANGLOPHONE EDUCATIONAL SECTOR, PRESENTED BY REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE OF
ENGLISH EXPRESSION.
After sustained
consultations with many Anglophone education stakeholders, and convinced of the
display of bad faith by government in general and educational authorities in
particular despite countless memos addressed to them especially by the
Anglophone teacher trade unions on urgent issues plaguing our educational
setup, we, Anglophone Members of Parliament have resolved to draw the attention
of the Prime Minister and the Government, especially the Ministers of
Secondary and Higher Education to the following legal provisos, anomalies
and injustices:
Ø The Prime Ministerial
Committee recommendation of September 1992, “that Cameroon’s dual system of
education be helped to develop its distinctive characteristics”;
Ø The
proceedings of the 1995 Forum on Education, whose final report submitted in
Yaoundé 27 May 1995, prepared the groundwork for the Education Law in Cameroon;
Ø This Law of
Education, No 98/004 of 14 April 1998, governing education in Cameroon;
Ø The fact that
this law, especially in Sections 4, 5, 11, 15, 16, 17, 20 and 25, defines the
orientation of our country’s educational system;
Ø The fact that
Section 15 sub one highlights the existence of two Cameroonian sub-systems,
English and French-speaking, thus laying emphasis on our bicultural heritage;
Ø Section 15
sub two of this same law, which asserts that both subsystems shall coexist, “each
preserving its specific method of evaluation and award of certificates”;
Ø The
surprising anomaly that the Cameroon GCE Board, which was created to handle all
Anglophone examinations, today continues to manage only the GCE Technical
examination, an infinitesimally small part of what is the Anglophone technical
examination heritage;
Ø The
scandalous fact that the Cameroon GCE Board only receives and is expected to
administer without moderating, technical examinations prepared by MINESEC, with
untold negative consequences like the case of the 2013 Probatoire examination
in which the Biology question paper was served to candidates with its marking
guide behind;
Ø The
outrageous abnormality that these examinations - CAP, Probatoire and BAC
– are, from all indications, set in French over the years and poorly
translated, with wanton errors and inexcusable presentation flaws, and with the
inevitable outcome of injustice done to the English speaking candidates of these
examinations;
Ø The
scandalous fact that English-speaking learners in technical colleges continue
to be subjected to the injustice of having to sit for CAP, Probatoire and
Baccalaureat, French-oriented examinations, in a global context where
Anglo-Saxon technical examinations like the City and Guilds, the LCCI, the
different RSAs, etc are vogue, and contrary to the provisions of the 1998 Law
of Education cited above;
Ø The
surprising fact that the newly introduced BEPC Bilingue, was written for the
first time in 2013 in the fourth year (instead of the fifth year where it
should have been written concomitantly with the GCE O/L) in violation of the
Section 16, sub article 2 of the new law synchronising the cycles of study for
the secondary, a clear indication that this newly introduced examination
purposes to continue along the lines of the old dispensation with its obsolete
Probatoire in place that should have been scrapped (the 7th year of
Anglophone Primary Education was dropped on the understanding that the Probatoire
would also be scrapped, so that the BEPC be sent to 5th Year, for a
proper synchronisation of the systems);
Ø The shameful
fact that the said BEPC Bilingue, in its maiden edition, was shoddy and
sub-standard from many perspectives, apparently having been set in haste and
marred by outright mistranslations of what had clearly been initially prepared
in French, together with howling errors, and inconsistent and unrealistic
timing of the different disciplines;
Ø The ominous
fact that snap and ill-timed MINESEC reforms that almost had a keg of gunpowder
effect on the nation last year are still being carried out in secretive manner
during this 2013/2014 Academic Year, with surreptitious, multiply-deferred
programmes for a validation seminar planned for Mbalmayo;
Ø Yes, the
alarming fact that MINESEC authorities appear determined to sneak in the
controversial “integrated sciences” programme for Forms One and Two,
this time with a changed nomenclature, “notional sciences”, which
discipline was seen as an adulteration with insidious designs and consequently
roundly deplored in a tripartite meeting with Anglophone teacher trade unions
on 17/10/2012;
Ø The fact that
in the said tripartite meeting that brought together the Minister of Secondary
Education with his close collaborators on the one hand and Anglophone Teacher
Trade Unions on the other, aspects of the reform were debated and compromise
positions adopted, especially that the sciences should be taught as separate
disciplines in Anglophone schools and that reforms would henceforth be
collegial;
Ø The added
fact that after the said tripartite, when public authorities started
disseminating wrong messages about what had transpired, one of the teacher
unions forwarded a memory aid reminding the Minister about the positions
adopted on these burning issues and deploring the display of bad faith,
reminder which appeared to have gone unnoticed;
Ø The
consequent implication that the present unilateral attempts by MINESEC at revising
the new educational programme proposal is indicative of high-handedness,
administrative subterfuge, unwarranted personalisation of national policy and
bad faith;
Ø The fact that
in our context, with emergence hoped for in 2035, proposals have been made by
pedagogic inspectorates and trade unions that Geology be introduced and taught
in all Anglophone schools, like it is compulsorily taught to ALL Francophone
students in 4e and 3e, yet these proposals appear to have fallen on deaf
ears;
Ø The fact that
many proposals have been made from different platforms that living languages
like German, Spanish and Arabic (today we add Italian and Chinese which latter
is being taught Francophone learners with the help of the Confucius Centre and
the Department of Chinese in ENS Maroua) be introduced into the Anglophone
educational programme, which proposals have all fallen on deaf ears (see the
document launching the entrance examination into ENS Yaounde and the number of
places advertised for English, French, German, Spanish and Arabic and see how
many Anglophone qualify for them);
Ø The fact that
Francophone learners who offer these languages have the benefit of scholarships
to these countries, which their Anglophone compeers are deprived of, by
national commission or omission;
Ø The fact that
Anglophone students who flock especially to Germany for post high school
studies spend exorbitant sums to learn German in crash courses at the Goethe
Institute or in immersion courses out there when this would be avoided by the
introduction of the teaching of these languages in the subsystem;
Ø Articles 78
and 79 of the Presidential Decree No 2011/045 of 08 March 2011 organising the
University of Bamenda, which indicates entry qualifications as per “Anglo-Saxon
standards” and which goes ahead to talk about equivalence, not only geared
towards maintaining quality standards but also hopefully towards maintaining
the University’s Anglo-Saxon nature;
Ø The shocking fact
that these clear laws governing the running of this institution
notwithstanding, the so-called Anglo-Saxon Higher Technical Teacher Training
College (HTTTC) ridiculously referred to as ENSET Bambili with teaching
personnel the majority of who are Francophones, prefers to leave teaching to be
done mostly in French, in flagrant violation of the norms of a bona fide
Anglo-Saxon University and with display of a manifestly callous indifference
about the fate of Anglophones students;
Ø The
outrageous fact that teaching programmes in HTTTC Bambili are fake translations
of teaching programmes in ENSET Douala, when viable Anglo-Saxon Technical
Teacher Training Programmes can be got from other Anglo-Saxon countries today
and adapted;
Ø The
abnormality that examinations like the entrance into Polytechnique, ENSET
Douala, HTTTC and even HTTC Bambili, etc have also been set in French and very
poorly translated with the same wanton expression errors and similar
inexcusable presentation flaws, to the detriment and disadvantage of English
speaking candidates;
Ø The ignominy
that entrance examinations especially into the so-called Anglophone (Technical)
Teacher Training Colleges as well as into many other higher institutions of
learning (e.g. Polytechnic Yaounde, the Military Academy, EAMAC, etc) have
continued to be organised with outright bias against English-speaking
candidates, abuses which have been deplored in memos to public authorities to
little effect;
Ø The fact that
the technical education setup has over the years not favoured the training or
progress of Anglophone teachers in the technical field, be it in the then lone
ENSET Douala or in the National Polytechnique in Yaounde, with the attendant
existence of a yawning lacuna in this sector;
Ø The fact that
to solve this acute personnel lack, administration rather resorts to recruiting
Francophone teachers with little or no knowledge of English to teach in
Anglophone technical colleges instead of trying to borrow Anglophone expertise
from the private sector, with the sad consequence that Anglophone technical
education for years has remained the bête noire and laughing stock of
Cameroon’s education;
Ø The Head
of State’s 2013 exhortation in his traditional eve of Youth Day address, that
young teachers in training should “study hard and be best placed to face the
stiff competition that lies ahead” and that “it is imperative for (teachers) to
get back that sacred fire”.
Ø The
unfortunate administrative trifling with and consequent bastardisation of the
2013 teaching practice (TP) exercise in HTTC Bambili contrary to this
presidential exhortation and to what obtains in ENS Yaounde and ENS Maroua.
This TP was characterised by the unprecedented supercilious exclusiveness by
HTTC authorities, ignoring of the technical service (the inspectorate) charged
with taking care of every TP exercise, by the by-passing of the practising
schools and by a suspicious administrative pandering to trainees’ whims (they
were asked to choose where they liked to go for teaching practise and they
chose far-flung schools in the seven divisions of the NW, in three divisions in
the South West and for HTTTC, some from this Anglo-Saxon training school chose
schools in the West Region!). The consequence of this adventurism was that
mediocrity became norm and marks as high as 19, 18 and 17 on 20 were given to
very many students who had not had proper and adequate teaching exposure and
monitoring;
Ø The alarming
fact that despite the hue and cry raised last year and the countless memos put
up by concerned parties to check such deliberate administrative undermining of
a dignified Anglo-Saxon teacher training system, supervisory Ministries have
stayed inexplicably mute, with the consequence that HTTC (or “ENS”) Bambili
has, this 2014 Academic Year, still spited the Inspectorate, its own Faculty
lecturers and the notion of “Practising Schools” and sent students to their
chosen schools with the Chief of Division for training and seminars boasting
that she and just two colleagues “will go round and inspect all students of all
the disciplines in third and fifth year and they will graduate”;
Ø The fact that
if such reckless adventurism continues unchecked, it will have untold negative,
even nefarious repercussions on the quality of teachers who tomorrow will be
responsible for educating the nation’s youths;
Ø Finally, the
fact that His Excellency the President of the Republic has made emergence by
2035 in all domains, education being one of these, the obsessive guiding
principle of his administration.
In respect of the
above observations, we strongly warn that Government should
Ø Keep in mind
that the education of the nation’s children is a joint project so any changes
should be effected in consultation with all stakeholders – authorities,
teachers, students, parents, trade unions, civil society, etc;
Ø Keep in mind
that the country’s laws continue to harp on biculturalism and bilingualism and
the need for co-existence so attempts at harmonisation, which remain very
sensitive, will only end up as adulteration with the effect of mediocrity;
Ø Equally keep
in mind that all attempts at harmonisation in our context have left a bitter
taste in the mouth of the Anglophone community so the majority of them see such
as uncalled for;
Ø Note that MINESEC’s
unilateral pickling with the educational programme is in no way binding on the
Anglophone subsystem of education especially because of the absence of
consultation and collegiality;
Ø Note that the
selective introduction of teaching aspects into one and not the other
sub-system of education – aspect considered important to individual and
collective advancement – smacks of unwarranted bias, which is destructive of
all attempts at keeping the nation welded together.
We insist that
that Government should
Ø Respect the
compromise arrived at during the 17/10/2012 tripartite meeting that held in the
Minister’s Cabinet in Yaounde (especially the re-introduction of Physics,
Chemistry and Biology, which disciplines were given 300 minutes; the urgent
crafting and dissemination of the package for the three years of the
orientation cycle; a good faith statement about the Forum of Education which
was proposed for 2013 but which has not yet been announced, etc);
Ø Stop the
unilateral revision or reviewing of the educational programme being undertaken
by MINESEC until proper consultations are carried out with all education
stakeholders;
Ø Always
respect the standard pass in the GCE A/L s recognised by its competent
examining Board and stop playing subterfuge when launching competitive exams,
like the Ministry of Defence’s which always exempts successful Anglophones
aspirants with two A/L papers from writing while opening up to all Francophones
with a mere pass in the Baccalaureat (we know how scandalously low deliberating
juries sometimes drop to make sure many students pass all the Francophone end
of course examinations);
Ø Check,
reverse with immediate effect and punish the perpetrators of
administrative high-handedness and personalisation of public affairs, like in
the case of the adulteration and bastardisation of TP in HTTC Bambili, which
has given the impression that these new officials want to lower the quality of
the products destined for Anglophone schools for selfish reasons or with
ulterior motives and insidious designs. Come to think of it, ENS Bambili should
not operate as if it were different from the other two ENS-es.
Ø Introduce the
teaching of living languages in the Anglophone sub-system of education so that Anglophone
learners should be able to have top-notch relations with countries that
Cameroon collaborates with especially in the educational realm;
Ø The few
Anglophone students who pass in these Francophone-oriented technical
examinations should be selected into Technical Teacher Training Colleges
without being subjected to entrance examinations that have over the years
displayed a want of credibility, validity and reliability, to mention but these
few;
Ø That the
Senate of the University of Bamenda should base its consideration of
equivalence for admission into that citadel of learning on certificates in the
English-speaking system, so that the products should be of unimpeachable
Anglo-Saxon pedigree, like obtains in the Anglo-Saxon University of Buea.
The venerated
Bernard Fonlon of blessed memory in one of his write-ups quotes an ancient
Roman sage, Cicero, who thought there was no greater or better gift to be
offered the Republic than the proper teaching and instruction of the youths,
than quality educational training given these future leaders. Therefore, a
national policy of excellent education and sound scholarship can be
conveniently seen as the impregnable future fortifications of that nation
against the multifarious problems that plague it on a daily basis. We cannot
therefore be happy or sit quiet when we realise that the education being
offered English speaking youths whom we represent is by design shoddy and
substandard. We therefore insist that the concerned Ministries should take
decisive steps to solve the above anomalies and injustices if love for the
Fatherland must remain a meaningful, lofty drive.
Done in Yaounde, this 11th Day of December 2013.
CC
The Minister of
Secondary Education;
The Minister of
Higher Education.
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