Officials Fear Boko Haram onslaughts will Halt Back to School

Yaounde, Cameroon—The 2014/2015 academic year in Cameroon will begin on Monday September 8, 2014.

Pupils/students of the Northern regions may not return to school

Ahead of the day, officials of the ministries of Basic and Secondary Education have been holding meetings to review the just-ended 2013/2014 school year, the conduct of its certificate examinations and draw up strategies to ensure a hitch-free return to the classrooms for the 2014/2015 academic year.

According to the Minister of Secondary Education, Louis Bapes Bapes, the 2013/2014 school year was generally satisfactory but for some problems like abandonment of duty posts by some teachers and misuse of examination fees in some schools amongst others.

These problems, the minister hoped, would not be repeated in the next school year.

“The school at the service of human development through quality education”, is the theme of the 2014/2015 school year.

But education officials are concerned that Nigerian militant group, Boko Haram will prevent schools in the northern regions of Cameroon from attaining this lofty goal.

Louis Bapes Bapes

“We are worried by the insecurity situation in the Far North region, but we are hopeful that by the time the school year begins, it would be possible that our children go to school”, Secondary Education minister, Louis Bapes Bapes told News Watch.

In the Northwest region, the 2013/2014 academic year was very successful with save for a few strikes, some unrest caused by trade unions as was the case in previous years, says Northwest regional delegate of secondary education, George Sunjo.

But the performance of students across the country at certificate examinations was not very satisfactory.

Compared to previous years, success at the GCE ‘O’ Level for general and technical education candidates dropped to a meager 35%.

This poor performance, according to George Sunjo, is due in part to the fact that “this is the batch that was combined in the primary school; classes six and seven”.

The educationist explains that the class six pupils missed out on something which they were suppose to have in class seven.

This batch, Mr Sunjo added, wrote the GCE for the first time and could not have performed the way people would have expected.

In the meantime, as the pupils and students prepare to hit the road for the 2014/2015 academic year, the minister of trade has maintained that the prices of text books will not be changed.

After an announcement by the minister in a press conference in Yaounde recently, officials from the ministry have been deployed to the field to ensure the ministerial decision is respected by book sellers.

By Ndi Eugene Ndi in Yaounde