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Société Construire la démocratie à partir des problématiques locales

Construire la démocratie à partir des problématiques locales

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Index de l'article
Construire la démocratie à partir des problématiques locales
Democracy and the Minority Problem in the Domain of Education in Cameroon
Retrieving And Consolidating Values Of Anglo-Saxon Educational System
A chronological synopsis of the attempts at assimilating or annihilating the English Subsystem of Education in Cameroon
Toutes les pages

Dans le cadre des orientations thématiques et conformément au plan stratégique et au plan d’action annuel de l’espace de la parole et de la citoyenneté dénommé La Grande Palabre, Jean-Bosco Talla, point focal de cette plateforme de discussion a procédé, le 30 avril 2014, à Bamenda, dans la salle de conférence de BCC (Bamenda City Council), sis au Commercial Avenue, au lancement de la phase pilote du projet Construction de la démocratie à partir de la base et des problématiques locales. Ce projet est le fruit d’un partenariat entre La Grande Palabre et Dynamique Citoyenne (DC), réseau regroupant plus de 100 organisations de la société civile camerounaise. 50 personnalités invitées ont pris part à cette cérémonie de lancement. Les femmes et hommes des médias y prenaient également part. Madame Yang Ghislaine, observatrice de Dynamique Citoyenne, dépêchée à Bamenda par les responsables de DC, a suivi les travaux de bout en bout.
À cette occasion, de 11 h à 15 h 45 mn, une discussion publique a été organisée autour du thème : Democracy and The Minority Question : The Case of The English Subsystem of Education in Cameroon.

Trois panélistes ont entretenu l’auditoire sur les sous-thèmes suivants – (lire ci-dessous):
- Democracy and the Minority Problem in the Domain of Education in Cameroon, by Tasi Ntang Lucas
- Retrieving And Consolidating Values Of Anglo-saxon Education System : A Pre-requisite For an Emerging Camroon in 2035, by Fr Tatah Mbuy
- A chronological synopsis of the attempts at assimilating or annihilating the English Subsystem of Education in Cameroon, by John Taiti Fodie

Prenant la parole le premier, le point focal régional de Dynamique Citoyenne - Nord-Ouest et modérateur de la discussion, Wilfred Gassang, Secrétaire général exécutif du CATTU (Cameroon Teachers Trade Union) a souhaité la bienvenue aux participants. Il a par la suite esquissé les contours du projet et des actions de Dynamique Citoyenne dans cette région. Pour terminer, il a présenté les panélistes et le point focal de La Grande Palabre à qui il a immédiatement donné la parole.
Prenant la parole, Jean-Bosco Talla a entretenu l’auditoire sur les missions et les objectifs La Grande Palabre, les actions déjà engagées et les perspectives d’avenir. Il a particulièrement focalisé l’attention des participants sur le projet que La Grande Palabre est en train de mettre sur pied en partenariat avec Dynamique Citoyenne en présentant le contexte et la justification, les objectifs poursuivis, les résultats attendus et la manière de procéder pour atteindre ces résultats.

Contexte et justification
Afrique, terre de mystères, de catastrophes, de famines et de misères ! Combien de fois, a-t-on entendu ressasser, à tort ou à raison, ces sentences par bien de personnes, plus ou moins de bonne foi, cherchant à expliquer ou à comprendre le vécu des Africains en général et des Camerounais en particulier. Même les chercheurs et penseurs qui tentent de dépasser des analyses simplistes des phénomènes observés dans certains pays africains, qui essayent de leur donner une résonance qui tienne compte des réalités du terrain, sont souvent, eux-mêmes surpassés par les événements. On s’est longtemps égaré en vaines discussions sur l'élasticité du temps chez les Africains, sur l'inexistence de philosophie africaine, l'absence d'histoire et du sens de l'histoire qui seraient les principales caractéristiques de l'Afrique et des Africains - et certains ne s'en lassent pas -, expliquant leurs retards, mais on se rend bien compte que quelques-uns, lorsque leurs intérêts sont en jeu, s'évadent de ces enveloppes qui semblaient congénitales. Le poids des pesanteurs dites ancestrales face à l'intérêt immédiat se dissipe, sans disparaître, pour reprendre les propos de Aggée C. Lomo MyaZhiom (2001 : 11-14)
De ce simple constat, nombreux sont ceux qui ont abordé - et continuent d’aborder- les réalités africaines en termes conflictuels de lutte entre la tradition et de modernité. On a même entendu dire que l’Afrique n’était pas mûre pour la démocratie, oubliant à dessein de dire que « l’Afrique n’était peut-être pas mûre pour la démocratie de type occidental », mais qu’elle avait le devoir d’inventer le type de démocratie qui lui convient en tenant compte des contextes sociopolitique, socio-économique et socioculturel dans lesquels vivent les populations africaines. Bref, L'Afrique doit devenir son propre centre (Achille Mbembe, 2011)
Le passé douloureux, les traumatismes subis, les défaites et les déconfitures des peuples d’Afrique sont virtuellement contenus dans ce type de raisonnement. Pourtant, souligne Frantz Fanon dans son ouvrage Peau noire, masques blancs, à propos du nègre, donc de l’Africain : «  la densité de l’Histoire ne détermine aucun de mes actes. Je suis mon propre fondement. Et c’est en dépassant la donnée historique, instrumentale, que j’introduis le cycle de ma liberté. Le malheur de l’homme de couleur est d’avoir été esclavagisé. Le malheur et l’inhumanité du Blanc sont d’avoir tué l’homme quelque part »
Ces analyses, même simplistes, sont aussi valables en ce qui concerne le Cameroun où une partie importante des citoyens et certains observateurs avertis estiment que la démocratie au Cameroun est mal partie ! Elles trouvent leur fondement dans les pratiques courantes des gouvernants et des responsables des formations politiques qui, au lieu de se poser en représentants de l’intérêt général et de la volonté des citoyens, se contentent de considérer le peuple-électeur, ou les citoyens-électeurs, surtout ceux vivant dans l’arrière-pays, à des dizaines et centaines de kilomètres des deux principales métropoles (Yaoundé et Douala), comme des troupeaux de moutons qu’ils doivent amener aux pâturages sans leur demander quelles herbes ils doivent brouter. Autrement dit, le peuple-électeur n’a pas son mot à dire dans l’élaboration des politiques publiques et des règles régissant la vie en communauté. Même lorsque les citoyens-électeurs font un diagnostic pertinent de la situation de leur pays ou mettent le doigt dans les plaient qui minent leur émergence, le concept de développement n'étant devenu désuet, les bien-pensants, ces adeptes du statu quo, accrochés à leurs intérêts individuels et égoïstes, les accusent d'être  à la solde des puissances démoniaques animées par le désir de mettre ne péril l'unité nationale et les acquis palpables et visibles par les aveugles.
Aussi, au Cameroun, comme dans la plupart des pays africains, les marges de manœuvre des citoyens et des organisations de la société civile dans le champ politique sont-elles très réduites, ainsi que les contenus réels et leurs moyens d’action. La démobilisation politique (collective) de la société civile camerounaise ou la faiblesse des mouvements sociaux protestataires en faveur des causes légitimes (absence d'eau, délestages intempestifs, absence des voiries urbaines, violations des droits fondamentaux, non prise en compte des desiderata des populations locales au moment de l’élaboration des politiques publiques, etc.) est patente. Elle est la conséquence logique de l’émasculation des citoyens vivant dans les localités par une « élite » qui estime que tout ce qui est pensé dans les salons dorés de Yaoundé est propre à la consommation. Les chefs traditionnels ne semblent pas, eux aussi, avoir pris conscience de leur rôle et celui de leur engagement politique.
À l’évidence, exclus ou considérés, à tort, comme de simples caisses de résonnance, n’ayant pas la capacité de comprendre les jeux et les enjeux, les citoyens camerounais vivant dans l’arrière-pays et les Osc semblent majoritairement réservés vis-à-vis de tout ce qui a trait à la démocratie et au jeu politique.
La problématique ainsi brossée est d’autant plus importante qu’elle est soulevée dans un contexte social généralement marqué par le vieillissement de la classe politique et l’attente anxieuse d’une transition démocratique, du moins, compte tenu de l’âge du président camerounais, 82 ans dont 52 passés dans la haute administration et 32 passés à la magistrature suprème, d’un changement imminent à la tête de l’État. En construisant la démocratie à partir de la base à des problématiques locales, mieux en faisant la promotion d’une démocratie participative à partir de la base, des localités et des problématiques en rapport avec le quotidien des populations, il est possible de convaincre les Camerounais quant à leur capacité à dégager de façon objective et transparente un consensus politique national apaisé et apaisant, pour ne pas dire pacificateur de l’atmosphère sociopolitique ambiante.

Nous devons, et c'est un impératif catégorique, "quitter nos rêves, abandonner nos vieilles croyances et nos amités d'avant la vie. Ne perdons pas de temps en stériles litanies ou en mimétismes nauséabonds" (Fanon, 1961)

Objectif général
L’objectif général de ce projet est de promouvoir ou de construire sur l’ensemble du territoire national une démocratie participative à partir de la base à des problématiques locales en rapport avec la démocratie. Il consiste à inviter des responsables politiques, d’organisations de la société civile, des chercheurs, intellectuels et l’ensemble des citoyens d’une région à débattre, au sein d’un espace de discussion qui se veut aussi un espace de construction de la citoyenneté et de promotion de valeurs démocratiques et républicaines, d’enjeux d’actualité et citoyens liés à leur localité en rapport avec la démocratie.

Objectifs spécifiques
- Organiser dans les 10 régions du Cameroun des discussions publiques sur des thèmes spécifiques à chaque région ou localité ;
- Éduquer, à travers les discussions publiques, les populations sur la nécessité de s’impliquer dans l’élaboration des politiques publiques et des règles de la vie en communauté ;
- Susciter la prise de conscience de leur qualité de citoyen et non de sujet ;
- Susciter la prise de conscience de la nécessité de s’engager politiquement ;
- Susciter la prise de conscience de la nécessité d’une mobilisation collective (d’un engagement) politique et citoyenne en vue de la résolution des problèmes sociaux qui se posent dans chaque localité ;
- Faire reculer les frontières de la peur en montrant qu’elle constitue un levier du pouvoir politique,
- Produire des actes (ouvrages) et diffuser auprès des Oscc, des partenaires et des populations ;
- À terme, produire un livre blanc contenant des propositions pour changer le Cameroun
.
Résultats attendus
- Les discussions publiques sont organisées dans les 10 régions du Cameroun ;
- Les populations sont éduquées ;
- Les populations prennent conscience de leur qualité de citoyen ;
- Les citoyens s’engagent politiquement ;
- Les citoyens prennent conscience de la nécessité des mobilisations collectives
- Les citoyens n’ont plus peur ;
- Les actes sont produits annuellement ;
- Un livre blanc est produit.

Méthodologie
Pour atteindre ces résultats, une approche théorique permettra de faire le diagnostic, l’analyse sans a priori ni concession de la situation des problématiques retenues dans chaque localité. Cette approche théorique pourra, en fonction des moyens disponibles se fonder sur une enquête. Dans ce dernier cas, l’enquête sera basée sur une démarche précise.
Lors des discussions publiques, les d’échanges seront interactifs, véritables brainstorming entre le public cible (leaders d’opinion, représentants des partis politiques, autorités traditionnelles, leaders des organisations de la société civile, intellectuels, chercheurs et autres participants) ; assuré par un modérateur appliquant la technique de résolution créative de problème, c’est-à-dire la recherche interactive des voies et moyens en vue de la mobilisation et la mutualisation des forces sociales autour des questions qui les interpellent tous dans leur localité respective.


Democracy and the Minority Problem in the Domain of Education in Cameroon

Abstracts
- Silence in the midst of injustice is complicity. (Gina)
- We have all made mistakes, we cannot change yesterday but have a duty to change today and tomorrow. (Clinton)
- History may be false not only when lies are told, but also when essential facts are left out. (Bernard Fonlon)
- When you give a child bad food you cannot stop him from vomiting it out. (Tasi)
- No wise and honest father speaks to his children with water in his mouth, nor will kindle their fire, blowing with palm oil in the mouth.
- We hold the British Government responsible for our present plight. Firstly, your representatives in the then Southern Cameroons failed to give us the necessary guidance and direction during the events leading to the plebiscite of 11th February 1961. Dr. John Ngu Foncha, Prime Minister of Southern Cameroons had at that time advocated separate independence for Southern Cameroons, leaving the issue of reunification to be determined later. (Dr. A. B. Yongbang and elite N.W. Province)
For democracy to survive in Cameroon, we would need a radical change of attitude which will permit us to LOVE and RESPECT those who have opinions different from ours. Such a change of mentality is very important for both our internal and external politics. (Christopher Nsahlai, 1990).
- By various processes of intrigue and spite the Federal Republic was reduced to the United Republic which today has re-assumed its original status of the Republic of Cameroon...

Are we now a mere annexture or a conquered territory of the Republic of Cameroon? (Abert Mukong, 1990)
- When you frustrate and manipulate a gradual and peaceful evolution, sprawling development ensures and ends in a revolution (Tasi)
- C.A.T.U. is the master and catalyst while Rev. Father Tatah Mbuy, John Fodje and Tasi Ntang are parrots. (Tasi)

Objectives
By the end of this presentation,
1. We will share ideas on truth, probity and dignity as well as democratic participation in sound constitutionalism as the foundation of all policy about the economic growth, social progress, sophistication and affluence in a functional democracy.
2. We will understand that reactive administrative sophism and political chicanery thwarted and still block openness, integrity, accountability and transparency as well as effectiveness and efficiency in our budding democracy. And that is why it is a non-functional democracy since dysfunctional problems lend to generalized state of inertia, government paralysis and political deadlock.
3. We will understand that covertly the assimilation of the Anglophone system, started in 1961 overtly in 1972 and even though there is lame legislation to describe the educational system as one with two sub-systems, intended to make-believe and calm down spirits, it is functionally one president, one prime minister, one minister, one director etc. and working in a horse/rider administration, minister riding a director/inspector, it is too centralized to be effective. The whole idea of respect for hierarchy compromises unity in diversity in favour of unity in frustrating uniformity. This encourages sycophancy, bootlicking and subservience. Unfortunately Anglophones are dancers while the players play their tune. It is only the French and English languages that suggest a difference and diversity.

Definition of Terms
Sprawling Development: Under normal wishes, plans and pro-activity, development means that a person, thing or situation evolves from good to better and to best. It becomes sprawling (ugly) development when inertia, paralysis and deadlock build dysfunctional conflicts.

Dysfunctional Situation: Most Cameroonians complain about their system. All Anglophones except those with booty and posts in their "mouths" complain the most.
Policy: In this paper policy refers to our constitution, laws on education and also decrees aretes and circulars that regulate the education business. Sophistication: A society, community or citizens of a country attain a level of sophistication when their policy, particularly on education enables them to attain a good level - understanding their culture, other world cultures and applying their knowledge to solve their problems.
Sophism: An argument which seems true but is intended to trick a people. In 1962 Ahidjo told Dr. Foncha to stay action on the transformation of CCAST Bambili into a university, advancing the point that it was advisable to concentrate in Yaounde in order to build and consolidate national unity which in a sprawling manner has assimilated and frustrated many Southern Cameroonians.

Functional Democracy: The UK and the USA are functional democracies because the citizens are at the centre of every government action. The rule of law, policy, affluence and sophistication for integrity, openness, impartiality, accountability and transparency as well as efficiency and effectiveness, are critical.
Unfortunately, Cameroon is a non-functional democracy. The masses complain; are frustrated and bedeviled by self-deluding, arbitrary and
Oppressive leaders who protect themselves. The parliament is lame, judiciary ampitted by the executive.

Chicanery: Political chicanery is the use of clever, unfair or dishonest method to trick a people in legal matters.
In 1961 a copy of the draft Federal constitution is said to have been given to Dr. Foncha very late, in fact in Foumban. In the Cameroon National Assembly statutory bills are given to parliamentarians a few hours to the first reading in a plenary so that in a rush, the will of the executive is passed into law. In 1998 the education orientation bill passed into law, describes our system as one with two sub systems, yet at administrative and pedagogic policy domains there is no commitment to qualify, quantify and differentiate the two sub-systems.
Today, we have four ministers each incharge of Higher Education, Secondary Education, Basic Education and Vocational Education and Training. Yet there is no Anglophone to advise/perfect consolidate the English sub system. This law is a good example of political chicanery intended to annihilate a system and assimilate its subjects. This situation is inimical to real peace and national unity.

Why Tasi Ntang Lucas to present this paper?
When I was contacted by phone by the organizers of this Public Conference to present a paper on Democracy and the minority problem in the domain of education in Cameroon I accepted for the following reasons:
- In 1961 I was in Form Two in Bali College where we were enthusiastic and excited doing French instead of Latin. Also, I lived the strains and stresses of Ibo domination in Abakwa.
- I have taught from Form One to Upper Sixth and from Sizième to Terminale. I also taught part time in the university for one year.
- I have been
(a) Vice Principal in CCAS Kumba and CCAST Bambili.
(b)Proviseur du Lycée d’Obala
(c) Principal, GHS Mamfe, GHS Limbe and GHS Kumbo.
(d) Deputy Director and later Analyst and Research Officer No. 1 in MINEDUC.
- I worked with Ministers Zachee Mongo So’o, Bidias a Ngon, Ndam Njoya, Rene Zenguelle, Mbella Mbappe (Late) George Ngango (Late) Joseph Mboui as Senior Education staff and with Mbella Mbappe, Etoundi Charles and Bappes Bappes as Member of Parliament.
- I was the first professional degree holder to teach in the Grand North.
- I was main challenger ie. Lead opposition MP in the Education Committee of Parliament for ten years (1997-2007).
- I am a Master Marshal of Examination Ethics International (E E M I) and our mission and vision is to decry what compromises validity, reliability, integrity and authenticity in education as a life and death utility and facility.
- I was in parliament and lived political chicanery and administrative sophism as our majority think the francophone system is made to look better than the Anglophone system, simply because it is a weakness to stand for what you know and lived, no matter how lame instead of finding out what you don’t know, no matter how good.
- I have lived some cross-cultural (Anglophone, Francophone) shocks. A French (my principal in C.E G de Mokolo) intimidated me in front of colleagues and students on our first encounter and I retorted. I once quarreled with a Minister in a meeting because he tried to intimidate over a G C.E. matter.

Therefore in the pages that follow, I will share my experiences and views with you. I hope that in God’s good time we build sound citizenship by dint of choice-making principles, because life is choice-making in properly articulated policy that gives due respect to diversity.
Question? Were enough stop gapes put in place to protect the English speaking minority from cultural assimilation and annihilation?
The Answer: The stop gaps were expressed in wishes later frustrated by bad faith.
Permit me to state that the educational policy (legislation, decrees, aretes decisions and circulars etc.) of every state, depends on the political option of that country. It is for this reason that a federal system of government was initially the idea which was never properly nurtured, analysed, consolidated and adopted by both parties -" La République du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons.” In all the pre-independence and pre-unification negotiations between the government of British Southern Cameroons led by Dr. John Ngu Foncha and Cameroon under French administration led by late Amadou Ahidjo, it was agreed that a Federation would be the form best suited to the state that would emerge from the eventual unification of the two distinct parts of Cameroon (Dr. Foncha speaking during Constitutional Consultative Committee December 1994.)
This was the political stop gap and rightly so because the educational system in every system is a function of the politics of the people. When you destroy the institutions cultural, economic and political that a people stand for, you destroy everything including their citizenship and patriotism reflected in their educational system.
In a functional democracy with a strong parliament, there is usually an Act of Parliament on Education. It is government’s sustainable paper for all ministers. A department of curriculum Development and Improvement is the technical service that sharpens the integrity of stakeholders of education in a sustainable manner, and since society is dynamic and evolves, measures are taken to pro- actively plan, direct and evaluate the situation in order to avoid sprawling development. School renewal is also sustainable in that all stakeholders participate.
Unfortunately in Cameroon, the political executive members who come and go are the powerful over the administrative executive of experienced professionals, most of whom leave when the Minister leaves. This is inimical to efficiency and effectiveness. In Cameroon we have had two presidents with close to 15 ministers in National Education and about six in Higher Education over a period of 54 years. The Minister turn-over, in the absence of good policy results in dysfunctional conflict-inertia, paralysis and deadlock.

Sprawling Collegiate Administration
We have a teaching staff deficit in most secondary schools particularly in rural areas. At the same time, there is a plethorat of Vice Principals and Senior Discipline Masters. Some High Schools have as many as 20 Vice Principals. We are at a loss to understand the reasons for this. In fact in the year 2012 G.H.S. Ako and G.H.S. Nwa each had 7 Vice Principals with one government teacher. The Parent/Teachers Association was left with responsibility, call burden of hiring part time teacher, i.e. Jobless Cameroonians who needed low wages to cope.
For that year G.B.H.S. Atielah, Nkwen had 11 vice principals, G.B.H.S. Bali, 13 and G.B.H.S. Bamendankwe about 12. These practices are certainly not healthy because a school principal will spend more of his time and resources on a few delicate people than on the whole school.
Dr. John Ngu Foncha the architect and peace lover (he loved peace to a fault) stated during the Constitutional Consultation Committee:
“In addition to assurances in this regime given to me in private by the leader of the French Cameroons, Mr. Amadou Ahidjo publicly stated to the people of Southern Cameroons during successive visits to that territory in 1960 and 1961 that reunification would not mean annexation, that is modalities would be negotiated between representatives of Southern Cameroons and those of La Republique du Cameroun and that to render unification viable and useful, a flexible and Federal form of the state which he described as unique and diverse was envisaged” (Foncha 1994).
Ladies and Gentlemen could there have been a better political safeguard than this constitutional arrangement. Today, the trick is that Cameroon is a decentralized unitary state. You can now understand why it is an idea and not a reality. The centre will continue to laud it up over the regions. The schools and the school system will continue to exist under dysfunctional conflict where inertia, paralysis and deadlock will continuously haunt us.

Educational Stop Gaps
In 1963, Dr. Foncha craved the indulgences of Ahidjo to see the need for vision before action to avoid confusion and illusion in the Federal Education System. He was empowered to be the chair of the National Council for Education which like most institutions, committees and even parliaments in non-functional democracies, particularly in a presidentialist system like ours, in Cameroon, “Le chien aboit et la caravane passe”. A committee was set up to visit the two systems. Their frank and constructive debate was blocked by the participants’ inclination to protect what they knew better and were used to - thus rendering a sense of critical thinking, impartiality, aesthetics and integrity impassible. There was never a political follow up and if the 1963 National Education Council on Education meant anything - it was discourse, declarations and made-believe policy with such unpleasant but also vexing statements like harmonization. How do you harmonize citizenship, esteem, character, vocational skills and democracy? These values are sharpened in every educational system by dint of choice-making, unity in diversity, anchored on a good constitution and sound education policy. When a constitution is tailored to suit a regime, re-arranged by a properly planned crushing majority in a lame parliament, the unintended consequences are sad. In reactive administration and politics by intrigue the strong in numbers and material things crush and assimilate somewhat annihilated the weak. But was the Southern Cameroons weak in human and material resources? Did they look at unification as two entities or not?

État Généraux Syndrome: When Yaounde plays host to educators from the regions in the name of États Généraux, the overt mission is to build synergy in make-believe discourse and declarations. The real intention is to give instructions.
The resolutions taken and reports made are occupational therapy for theory as individual ministers go about their reactive business without due regard for stability, sustainability and efficiency.
What we need in Cameroon is a special National Education Council (Forum) that takes on board all education stakeholders (government, parents, employers, clergy, international partners) to articulate on issues to be sanctioned by the legislature.
Lame stop Gaps (Vice Minister Syndrome). For some decades the political executive of the Ministry of National Education included a Francophone Minister, an Anglophone Vice Minister and later called Secretary of State and an administrative executive mainly Francophones with one or two directors and a host of Anglophone assistant directors. It took an energetic Vice Minister who did good advocacy to push the Anglophone cause forward. In fact, it has gone down in history that the duo that worked in esteem, integrity and dignity thus worked for national unity was Ndam Njoya and Dorothy Njeuma. This writer captured with attention the expression from the mouths of most Directors, “Il faut que Madame le Vice Ministre voit le dossier.” (Make sure the Vice Minister is informed). This duo apart, what I saw and lived was overwhelmed ministers, doing the work and the vice minister/Secretary of State, featuring only in cabinet meetings - occupying a place of grace and honour on the high table and in fact doing no work. You could see it on their faces. In their offices you saw their clean desks as opposed to the piles of files on the minister’s table and sometimes on the floor.
I can see Vice Minister Martin Luma (Late), Madame Eko, Enyih Paul Atogho, and Yonga Teghen as the last Anglophone Vice Minister/Secretary of State.
Since the split of the Ministry of National Education into four ministries Vocational Training and Empowerment, Basic Education, Secondary Education and Higher Education, there is no Anglophone who can timidly or energetically make suggestions on how to build, ameliorate, protect and sustain the Anglophone sub system. What a shame! For a God given nation like Cameroon with enormous resources that can best be exploited to ensure sophistication, affluence and emergence so that national unity is ensured and lasting peace consolidated. Annihilation and assimilation breed suspicion, fear and hatred. It is a time bomb that explodes in due time.
Political Chicanery: In 1998 government tabled a bill on education orientation in Cameroon, declaring that it is a system with two sub-systems - corresponding to the Anglophone and francophone cultures. It was passed into law. Unfortunately this make-believe policy statement is not impartially executed. One would have expected government to plan an organizational chart that makes commitment to protect these two sub systems in qualifiable, quantifiable managerial administrative and pedagogic terms. The absence of other education stakeholders (employers, parents, civil society etc.) in school renewal is cause for concern. This is tantamount to political chicanery. This sad practice is said to build national unity and peace is explained in administrative sophism ie. The use of declarations and made-believe language to assimilate a people.

What about Higher Education?
You were silent on this area but there is a lot amiss and anomalous concerning higher education. We all know the story of Yaounde I and how Anglophones suffered from academic torture because of language, educational approach and syllabus differences. They were expected to adopt to the BACC+ system.
Buea and Bamenda are said to be Anglo-Saxon - that is made-believe because Anglo-Saxon universities are autonomous. Their affiliates obey the give/give and win/win participation. The Minister of Higher Education has a grip on the VCs and Rectors. They are called Vice Chancellor in English and Recteur in French. The relationship between state universities and private universities in pure Anglophone Saxon countries is a win/win relationship. In some of the private universities, seasoned retirees bow to young lecturers and professors from state universities as a coping strategy because the state university has to sign the degree certificates from the private university until they graduate to a level to sign their own degrees.
We want to thank Anglophones (moral and physical person) like Late John Ngu Foncha, Yong Francis, the Catholic Mission, Presbyterian Mission etc. for opening universities in order to reduce the number of Cameroonians leaving the country to further their education abroad. They have already reduced the incident of frustrated students in the state universities where the human touch is not good enough.

What should have been done? The way forward
From the abstracts to the issues so far raised in this paper, the way forward is simple and clean. What is wrong either for lack of vision should or for suspicious reason should be corrected. Generalized corruption, embezzlement, misappropriation and kleptomania as well as state of inertia, government paralysis and political deadlock can find solution in sound constitutionality, parliamentary strengthening, judicial independence, good elections, sophisticated citizens without which arbitrariness, oppression and repression by a few strong leaders, plunder the resources, aggravate, suspicion and hatred. Emergence will remain slogans. This is inimical to peace, national unity, economic growth, social progress and environmental protection.
Over the years Anglophones who have lived a culture of peace and have a conviction in the force of good argument have decried: “The constitution which I have held and preached as the supreme law of the land is in many respects being ignored or manipulated”. (Foncha, 1994)
“I feel distressed that the constitutional proposals put before this committee do not offer the opportunity for us as a nation to address our minds to, an dissolve the genuine and legitimate grievances of the Southern Cameroonian people in particular, and Cameroonians people in general. I feel all the more distressed: that this should be happening under the chairmanship of a son of Southern Cameroons whom I believe is as sensitive as any one of us to the injustices his people and their territory have suffered in more decades. Today a son of Southern Cameroons Simon Achidi Achu has been designated to preside over the completion of the progress of annexation.” (Dr. Foncha 1994)
“We the undersigned Cameroonians resident in the United States of America after duly examining the socio-political and economic situation prevailing in our country; observe with dismay the absence of the rule of law in the whole country.
- Regret in particular the 1972 change of the Federal Constitution unilaterally abolishing the federation which was the basis of the union.
- Regret the non-challant attitude of the head of state in not heeding to the appeals from the peace-loving English speaking population in their desire to keep the country one as they had opted in the 1961 plebiscite (USA group 1986).
- “By various processes of intrigue and spite the Federal Republic was reduced to the United Republic which today has re-assumed its original status.”
“Are we now a mere annexture or a conquered territory of the Republic of Cameroons” (Albert Mukong, 1986).

In conclusion, action without vision is confusion and illusion.
A minority in numbers but a very active population, with brilliant minds, living in an area with rich natural and mineral resources; in general accountable and open peace lovers, should not be taken for granted. We know that of the four major world systems - Anglo-Saxon, continental, Arabic world and the East the one that believes in knowledge and are pacesetters in good governance, science and management, are Anglo-Saxons. The exception should not be Cameroon. We appeal to self-deluding political leaders to relax on the psychosis, call it syndrome of party discipline that has aggravated electoral dictatorship (crushing majority) and divided the Anglophones. The cries are many and touch on all domains of national life - education, civil society, press, elections, legislative strengthening, judicial system, executive good governance and sound constitutionalism. The very fact that some Francophones choose the Anglophone sub system of education for their children and wards is evidence that the two rivers can flow freely without strains and stresses. The constitution of Cameroon will be rewritten in God’s good time. Political chicanery will cease and sophistication will replace sophism. We can make good in life with two systems in education, the practice of law. I once told a minister not to force “miondo” on the Beti nor “bobolo” on a Sawa. It is foolhardy to think that we have not drawn inspiration from francophones in our economic growth and social progress. In fact, francophones, particularly our brothers from the West Region are very competitive, hard working, ingenious, ambitious daring and steadfast as individuals. They are path-finding and invest in education and knowledge. They are long suffering and patient and are willing to repeat the BACC several times even if it means going from region to region and sometimes as far afield as to Chad, Gabon and Central African Republic. They listen and capture information about “concours” and prepare to write them. In this regard Anglophones have to work hard and limit the degree of blame culture which gives the impression that the environment has to be totally flat and enabling before we work. As for me I strongly believe in a federal system and not the mish-mash we today call “Cameroon as a decentralized unity state”. God save Cameroon.
Tasi Ntang Lucas, Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir.
Bamenda, 30/04/2014

Notes and References
1. The Cameroon Constitution (1960, 1961, 1972 and 1996)
2. Albert Mukong: Case for the Southern Cameroons (USA 1990) John Ngu
3. Dr. John Ngu Foncha: A Resignation Letter from the CPDM 9th June 1990.
4. Dr. John Ngu Foncha: Speech during the Constitutional Consultative Committee in December 1994.
5. Christopher Nsahlai: Look up to the Mountain Top.
6. N.N. Mbile Langaa: Research and Publishing CIG, Mankon - Bamenda Cameroon Political History. Authentic Eye witnesses.


Retrieving And Consolidating Values Of Anglo-Saxon Educational System
A Pre-requisite for an Emerging Cameroon in 2035
There is a general concern and public desire to see Cameroon emerge in 2035. The country and her citizens have a right to this concern and desire. But we must also honestly realize that emergence in our world today is neither acquired by sheer wish nor by articulate political platitudes. It must be accompanied by deliberate, cool headed, and clinical examination of actual facts and skillful planning.
This paper is inspired by the thesis that the future of any country depends very much on the quality of education that she has put in place. And anyone who does not care about the future should never be given husbandry of the present. We can do nothing about our past except to use it to plan our future in the present. These days in an era of Information Technology, the world has been so reduced to a global village that no one can pretend to operate alone in his own cocoon. In fact, we operate in such a social network today that one either identifies with the technical know-how that is required or be considered redundant. As part of this network, the future of this country does not depend very much on what we say as what we do today to align ourselves with the global flow of events, albeit without sacrificing our identity as Africans in general and Cameroonians in particular.
Most Cameroonians, including the President of the Republic, have had the occasion to lament about the manner in which our country is running itself in a world that is mercilessly competitive; and uncompromisingly looking for merit and know-how.
This paper shares in these worries but wants to go beyond by identifying a few key elements in our present educational system, if we have any, that need urgent surgery if we are not going to bleed quietly to death. We equally assumes that the verifiable fact of so many of our Francophone parents who are now prepared to do anything to send their children to study in Anglophone Cameroon, is a tacit approval of some basic educational values that they recognize and which they want to afford to their offspring. We are of the opinion that rather than offer these values to a privileged few, that our educational system be restructured in such a way as to engage some fundamental principles on which a typical Anglo-Saxon education is based. To do this we need to retrieve and consolidate these same values which are in the danger of being eroded in Anglophone Cameroon given a rather sinister and uncomfortable manner in which we are quietly trying to suppress the only values that we all need to emerge. What are these values that we are alluding to?

I- Some basic values of Anglo-Saxon education
There are many of these values that could be mentioned here but we shall concern ourselves with 5 of the most outstanding. First that Education is primarily meant to bring up a person to become more human, therefore it must be holistic. Secondly, that education by nature is for life and must entail the learning of life-skills. Thirdly, that merit is paramount in education and only those who work hard can expect a reward.
Fourthly, that education must produce good citizens not moral criminals; and finally, that good teachers are an absolute necessity towards achieving good education.
a) Holistic Education: The human being is a bi-unity of body and soul; the physical and the spiritual; the banal and the sacred. Therefore education must aim at bringing up all these compartments of the human being. An educational system that narrows itself to getting qualifications by hook or crookery, is very likely to open itself to the greatest truants to succeed in areas where they have no place. And this is an area of Anglo- Saxon that was taken great care of because in all schools and at all levels, emphasis was always equally laid on the intellectual and moral formation. From Primary to tertiary education, Anglo-Saxon education gives as much stress on the empirical sciences as it does with the sublime subjects of Religious Knowledge and studies, precisely because the human being is both an empirical and religious animal. Whatever we say in this country, unless we are able to form good consciences from the primary school through all levels of education, we shall continue to churn out the educated crooks that have become an embarrassment to us all.

II. Education for Life
Education in Anglophone Cameroon was also dispensed with a view to helping students adapt well to real life. The economic future of this country lies largely in the agricultural sector. Therefore in most schools in Anglophone Cameroon, there were always school gardens and farms; times for manual labour and these were supervised by an expert who showed the children how to work. There was a period for handwork and the teachers supervised their children learn new skills or perfect the talents they had. Today, a lot of this has changed and we have given our children, the impression that all must get a white collar job.
This is as impossible as it is an illusion. We need to get our children know the reality of our economy and love agriculture. Furthermore, the present world has irretrievably become digital; and in a digital world, one either knows or he does not know. Favoritism, nepotism and all weird ...isms that we have adopted do not have a place anymore. They did not have in an Anglo-Saxon system; and they must not be invited into it either.

III. Meritocracy
A good number of us reached where we are today, thanks to an Anglo-Saxon system which privileged and rewarded merit and hard work. Scholarships were given to students who worked hard and achieved much. The best found themselves in professional and sensitive schools. Today, no one seems to understand what is happening when a student who passes with distinctions is pushed to the background and some nonentity is given all the opportunities that he will hardly make use of. This attitude completely contradicts and compromises our desire to want to emerge in 2035. As long as we continue to promote mediocrity at the expense of great talent, we shall keep stagnating and the beautiful ones will never be born. No coach expects to win a serious football match by putting aside his best players!

IV. Good Citizenship
Anglo-Saxon education aimed at producing conscientious and good citizens who thought more about the common good than personal interest. It was clear to every school child that anyone caught cheating during exams, that one who stole, or was brutal towards others would be sanctioned. Every school child knew that there were certain words that one did not use, that he needed to show respect towards his teachers and that he would be punished for late coming, lying and any immoral behaviour.
Today, our children have learned the opposite not only from their teachers but from their society. We make the matter worse by sparing the rod and spoiling the children!

V Professional Teachers
The great latinists often say: Nemo dat quod non habet - You cannot give what you do not have. It was this belief which made Anglophone Cameroon begin Teacher Training Colleges; and the condition for entry and training given there was such that only those who genuinely had the aptitude and vocation for teaching would survive. That is why the teacher was truly a teacher at all times and everywhere. He carried himself with a certain dignity and was respected by all and sundry. The village teacher was an example to emulate and he did his duty both within and without the school. We can only look back with nostalgia at the days of the village HM and class teacher. Today, a good number are in the teaching field by accident, and teachers who do the greatest service to this country are among the least appreciated in terms of salaries and allowances. What else can we expect?

VI. The Way Forward
Our situation is not yet one of despair. We can still turn the pendulum if we are sincerely eager to bequeath a good country to the generation coming after us. When one gets out of this country and sees the talent and high profile technicians that this country has, one can only Cry the Beloved Country. There are young Cameroonian educationists who are delivering the goods in Uncle Sam's country and in the land of the Kiazer and in the Gulag Archipelago of Mao Tse Tung. If they have run away from their country, it needs to be a worry to us all. We can only attract them back if we decide to reward merit and give it a chance.
Furthermore, we tend to politicize everything in this country, including Education which should be the most apolitical arena anywhere in the world. Appointments in any educational system must of necessity be based on competence, never to reward party loyalty or affiliation. Unless we are prepared to face this demon that is raging so freely in our land, all our interest about emerging in 2035 will probably be a still birth when the time comes.
Our hope in this country still lies in the confessional or Mission Schools. Without any doubt, they produce the best that we can still hope for in the future. But their situation is compromised by the salary situation of their teachers and the teaching conditions and limited nature of how many students they can take. Very few of the poor can afford to send their children to these schools. Is there no way by which Government can either pay all Mission teachers or send teachers on secondment to these schools for the greater good of the country? In the former Anglo-Saxon system, there was the grant in aid which made it possible for the Mission Schools to function effectively and well. Most of our ministers and elite today benefited from these schools. Is it possible that they could also let others benefit also?
Fr. Tatah Mbuy


A chronological synopsis of the attempts at assimilating or annihilating the English Subsystem of Education in Cameroon
Specifically, the Focal Point, Dynamique Citoyenne Nord West, Executive Secretary General of CATTU requested me to give a chronological synopsis of the attempts at assimilating or annihilating the English Subsystem of Education in Cameroon. I hope that at the end of my presentation, I would succeed somehow to do just that.
At Independence in October 1961, many things concerning the nature of the relationship between West Cameroon and La République du Cameroun were not settled or agreed upon. In the business world, when two companies have to merge, they have to work out the terms of the merger before the merger actually takes effect. This is especially the case because the two companies have different set-ups, different management style and human resource regulations; different financial procedures, marketing and purchase principles and styles. The type of merger must be firmly agreed upon and papers signed before the amalgamation takes place. In the case of Companies, there are different types of mergers

a) A complete takeover of one company by the other
i) With the company taken over (or bought over) completely losing its original identity: - its name, its business style, management style, personnel, etc, and all its assets and liabilities are assimilated into those of the buyer. In such a case, after a few years, little is remembered of the company that was bought over.
ii) Or the take-over may be the type wherein the company taken over maintains its original name and products but comes directly under the management of the company that has bought it as a subsidiary. In this case, some changes are made in the human resource management, administrative and financial management of the bought over company with the ultimate management being placed under the parent company.
In both these cases, the original shareholders of the bought company are paid off by the parent company and whatever is done with the purchased company is no longer their business.
b) Another form of merger is the type in which two companies decide to merge in order to benefit from synergy. They may pool their resources together, work out a combined system of management, taking the best from each other and benefitting from economies of scale, maximizing their capacity and minimizing costs through the elimination of wasteful competition.
In this case, the original shareholders of the merged companies are maintained. The benefits of the merger accrue to all of them in proportion to their stakes in the merged company. They may take off their old names and adopt a new name entirely or they may maintain both names.
c) A third form of merger is the type in which two different companies agree to work together for common benefits with each company maintaining its full autonomy and merely collaborating with each other in certain areas of their operations. One company may be a source of some raw material for the other or a marketing outlet for the other or one may provide a chain of transportation or distribution for the other. In this case each company maintains its identity, its management personnel, etc. and merely benefits from the advantaged position it holds with its partner. This type of collaborative partnership allows each company the autonomy to develop independently of its partner.
Now coming to Nation States- The merger of two national entities follows almost the same principles as the merger of companies. What type of merger took place between the English Speaking part of Cameroon the Southern Cameroons and the French Speaking part- La République du Cameroun. Was it type a) i) or II); type b) or type c) above?
Did one of the states buy over the other so that the bought-over state had to lose its identity completely how-be-it slowly and tactfully? Note that in this type of merger, whatever the buyer decides to do with the company bought is his business because the original owners have nothing to do with it anymore. If that was the type of merger, then the parent state or those who claim to be so, think that they are justified to demolish everything in the bought-over state and introduce their own system of management, their own system of justice, their own human resource style, system of education, you can name them.
Did Southern Cameroons merge with La République du Cameroun like in b) above in order to benefit from synergy, to maximize their joint capacities, tap the best from each other, benefit from economies of scale, enjoy a larger population and thus a larger market, and minimize costs, etc.?
Or was the Union like c) above in which the two states agreed to maintain their full autonomy and merely collaborate with each other in certain areas of national business?
From all the discussions that have been going on since the so called Unification of the two Cameroons till today, it seems to me that La République du Cameroun was thinking of merger type a) i) above while Southern Cameroons was thinking of Merger type b).

Why do I say so? The leaders of French Speaking Cameroon have all along behaved as if they bought over Southern Cameroons. For some time, they allowed the Southern Cameroons (West Cameroon) to go on with their system of Education, their judicial system, their mobile police force, their House of Chiefs and their Parliament, their marketing Board, their Prime Minister, their multi- party democracy, etc. Soon after wards, leaders of French Cameroon started gnawing into the Anglo-Saxon systems bit by bit. The multi -party democracy of the Southern Cameroons / West Cameroon was "abolished". Then the House of Chiefs and the West Cameroon Parliament was abolished. The mobile police, and West Cameroon police force were absorbed and assimilated into the National Security of Cameroon. The post of Prime Minister of West Cameroon was abolished. The marketing Board was taken over as National Produce Marketing Board and placed under the management of a Francophone but responsible for marketing only products from West Cameroon. Dissolving the government of West Cameroon meant that policy making in every area of national life had been transferred to ministries in Yaounde.
Of course this was the stepping stone to assimilation and the complete take-over of the English speaking Cameroon or what some would like to refer to as annihilation of everything Anglo-Saxon.
The unfortunate thing is that there was no real negotiation, agreement and signatures on the merger agreement by the two parties before the merger took place (if it actually took place). Such an agreement needed to have been scrutinized by the lawyers of each party and adopted by the general assemblies of the shareholders of the two parties ie the parliaments of the two states before the agreement comes into effect. Such an agreement would have put in place certain checks and balances that would have constitutionally protected the cherished values of each party to the merger.
One way of absorbing or assimilating a people is to wipe out their cultural heritage - their language, their cultural practices, their names their administrative set-up and above all their educational system.
It looks to me that successive leaders of La République du Cameroun have a tacit agreement among themselves to tactfully demolish all these in an imperceptible but sure way.
There were several moves by different Ministers of National Education to water down our system of Education. The Cameroon College of Arts, Science and Technology (CCAST) which was meant to be the pre-cursor of the University College for Anglophones did not become what Dr, John Ngu Foncha meant it to be because Mongo So'o who was Minister of National Education at the time converted it into a High School. This was the first big blockage against Anglophones getting university degrees because thousands of them could not go to the Federal University in Yaounde because of the French language handicap or to foreign universities because of financial handicap. For this reason, the number of Anglophones who would have been highly educated since 1961 was greatly diminished.

Technical Education in the English Subsystem in Cameroon
The Oobe Technical College: This college trained technicians in motor mechanics, civil engineering, woodworks, building construction, electricity and electronics, etc; and was meant to grow from the training of middle-skilled manpower to high level skilled engineers and technicians. But as soon as we "merged", Ombe Technical College suffered a worse fate than CCAST Bambili. A new Principal was appointed there who knew nothing of the original plan of the Southern Cameroons for the college or he might have feigned ignorance of the plans. The institution was plundered and diminished almost to a skeleton of its former self! The destruction of Ombe Technical College led almost to the death of Technical Education for the English Sub system. Students graduated from Ombe with CAP which was taught in a language that was neither English, nor French nor Pidgin nor any of the Cameroonian local languages. (Bakweri, Mungaka, Lamnso, Laikom nor Aghem). The opening of more of such so-called technical colleges and Technical High Schools in other parts of the Southern Cameroon/ West Cameroon/ North West/ South West Cameroon did not improve the situation because it looks to me that the situation was never meant to be improved upon! The language of instruction in the confines of those classrooms has remained the same as I have already described above. This is testified by the technical examinations taken by the English speaking children of this country for 53 years of our unification. Is it that we are incapable of translating exam questions from French to English or setting the questions in English or it is a deliberate attempt at depriving Anglophone children of Technical education by frustrating them?
It took more than 30 years since Unification for a Grade i Technical Teachers Training college to be created to train grade One Technical Teachers in the Anglophone zone (GTTTC Mbengwi) and in the frst year it was created, it was not advertised in the NW and SW Provinces to the effect that more than 70% of the pioneers trained there were Francophones. Until 2010, ENSET Douala was the only Institution to train Teachers for Technical Colleges and High Schools and was almost exclusively training only Francophones. Very few Anglophones were ever admitted there. By 2010, not up to 2% of the total number of teachers trained in Douala were Anglophones. In 2010, a HTTTC was created in Bambili purportedly to train teachers for Anglophone Technical Colleges and High Schools but unfortunately, again, very few Anglophones are being admitted to this school. Instead, more than 60% of the students are francophones and in some Departments, francophones are more than 80% of the undergraduates.
The National School of Polytechnic in Yaounde was and remains a school reserved basically for Francophones. Few Anglophones are admitted to it. The same scenario or even worse prevail in the schools of Public Works, P&T School, School of Surveys, National Institute of Demography, etc. In short Anglophones have been systematically deprived of technical education in this country. I have heard some people say, Anglophones don't like technical education or regard technical education as inferior. To some extent, I agree with those who say so but when we ask why Anglophones in Cameroon should hate technical education when science and technology are Anglo-Saxon the world over, the reason readily comes to the fore! In Cameroon, Anglophones have been manipulated to hate technical education by the way technical education is presented to them. Teaching in some form of obscure guttural language and examining it in an unearthly kind of grotesque language can only generate hatred and a low quality image for technical education by Anglophones. (Note that Francophones are taught technical Education in good French and examined also in good French)

Grammar or General Education in the English Subsystem in Cameroon
From 1961 until 1972 Grammar education in West Cameroon was allowed to continue virtually undisturbed except that the only High Schools in Anglophone Cameroon were CCAST Bambili created in 1962 and CPC High School Bali, created in 1971. As mentioned earlier, the Minister of National Education in Yaounde did not want to recognize the status of CCAST Bambili as a junior University College that it was meant to develop into. That was the beginning of obstacles on Anglophone educational progress.
The University of Yaounde was created in 1962 and became known as the Federal University of Cameroon. Although in principle it was supposed to be a bilingual University, it was indeed a francophone university patterned according to the French system of Education. Most of the lectures were in French also because few courses were taught by Anglophones who were a small proportion of the teaching staff. Anglophones who enrolled in Yaounde Federal University had a language handicap and this reduced the number of Anglophone students willing to enter the University. Those Anglophones who could afford it went to Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone or Liberia for their University Education. Many others just had to remain at home with their Advanced Level GCE because they could neither go abroad nor go to Yaounde.

ENS Annex Bambili was created as an Advanced Teacher training College by the West Cameroon Government to train Advanced level holders to teach in Secondary Schools but the Minister of Education in Yaounde converted it to an annex of the ENS Yaounde, basically to train secondary school teachers for the Anglophone Subsystem. For many years this school trained only first cycle secondary school teachers. Several attempts were made in later years to water down the importance of this institution. There were several attempts to cause it to give only one year training in Bambili for the students to go complete two years in ENS Yaounde. For some time students had to go write the exam only in Yaounde and attend orals only in Yaounde to enter ENS Bambili. The school remained undeveloped in terms of infrastructure for more than 35 years. The Budget for running the school was centralized in ENS Yaounde. The school used old Primary school buildings of the defunct NA School Bambui/Bambili and borrowed some old dilapidated structures of the former Rural Education Centre that were previously handed over to CCAST Bambili. Fortunately Anglophones of good will stood their grounds to resist the attempts to take it back to Yaounde until from 2005, the current Minister of Higher Education started to implant ENS Bambili more permanently in Bambili and adding more Departments and even creating a Higher Technical Teachers Training College and raising both to the second cycles as well in 2009. This was not done without a big struggle by Anglophone teachers and parents. Here I pay glowing tribute to CATTU and its late Executive Secretary General - Simon Nkwenti who championed the fight for the creation of an Anglophone HTTTC.

The area in which successive Ministers of National Education made overt attempts to demolish but met with stiff resistance by the Anglophones was in the GCE. Several attempts were made to "harmonize", or more accurately "francophonize" the GCE. There were attempts at converting the single subject exam into a group certificate exam like the Brevet or the Baccalaureate; attempts to compress all the sciences into one subject called "natural science" like the "Science Naturelle" of the Brevet; etc, etc. When the GCE formerly organized by the University of London was taken over by Cameroon in 1977, we all hailed the move as one that was meant to build the capacity of Cameroonians, customize the examination for Cameroon without reducing standards and reduce the very high cost of the examination to parents and students. Little did we know that all these advantages notwithstanding, the ministry was again on another attempt to destroy what remained of the Anglophone subsystem of Education - the GCE. (Note that Technical Education had already been completely destroyed.) From 1984, examiners of the GCE were no longer being paid their marking dues and out of station allowances; invigilation dues were withheld and Directors in the Ministry of National Education who had nothing to do with the GCE distributed huge sums of GCE money among themselves. Anglophone teachers who spent six weeks marking the GCE in Yaounde went through a lot of hardship and heavy expenditures. The situation came to a head in 1991 when Anglophone teachers led by the Teachers Association of Cameroon TAC organized boycotts of the marking exercise until all accrued arrears were paid.

The Ministry of National Education used these boycotts to destroy the GCE. Questions that were usually sent to London for moderation under seal were no longer sent. The seals on the packages were destroyed and the questions were "given" or "sold" to Ecole Normale and used as entrance examination questions into ENS Bambili. As if that was not bad enough, in 1992 the Ministry of National Education decided to type the GCE O/L and A/L in the ministry using Francophone typists. The effect of this was that question papers were terribly typed with horrible errors, some in French, wrong pagination, omission of whole parts of questions; missing pages; some instructions in French etc; etc. There were no candidates lists, no individual time table for the examinations, insufficient question papers etc. Question papers were brought to centres either on examination days or a day or two after the exam date. Question papers were sent through taxi drivers and in open cartons. This was a complete disaster for the GCE. Because of this, the University of London decided that it was not going to endorse the Cameroon GCE anymore. This meant that those who obtained the Cameroon GCE from 1992 onwards were no longer going to gain admission into universities abroad anymore.
The 1992 disaster with the GCE led TAC to abandon its original course of fighting for the payment of accrued marking dues to fighting to preserve the dignity of the GCE and the Anglophone Subsystem of education. TAC decided that until an Examination Board was created to handle all Anglophone Examinations from Primary school to High School and teacher training colleges, it was not going to rest. The decision by TAC was totally bought over by Parents and Anglophones of all walks of life. The struggle was intense and persistent and in July 1993, The Head of State signed a decree creating the GCE Board which eventually took over the organization of the GCE. (A Bacc Board was also created as a consequence of the fight for an examination Board).

While TAC and the Anglophones were fighting for the creation of an Anglophone Examination Board to protect the Anglophone Subsystem of Education in Cameroon, they were at the same time fighting for an Anglo-Saxon University to be opened either in Bamenda or Buea. Before the GCE Board was created, a decree was signed creating the University of Buea as an Anglo-saxon type University in 1992.
The creation of both the University of Buea and the GCE Board and recently the University of Bamenda, has not stopped the various attempts at either assimilating the English subsystem of Education or trying to modify it without the consent of the Anglophones. While it is normal for any system of education to evolve, one wonders why in Cameroon it is always the English subsystem that must be changed not by Anglophones but by Francophones while leaving the French subsystem untouched?
As long as policy makers in this country are basically Francophone, it seems that Anglophones have to be constantly on the watch out to cry foul whenever attempts are made to assimilate or annihilate their subsystem of Education which has proven to be of high quality not only in Cameroon but everywhere in the world. As individuals, Francophone parents cherish our system of education that is why there is a big rush into our type of schools by them and their children. But policy makers seem to be bent on wiping out the special characteristics of our subsystem of education. Who gains from this is still what beats my imagination. One would have thought that having realized the value of our type of education, Francophone Ministers of Education and the powers that be would have simply adopted that system for the entire country. Reforms in Education should be done in full consultation with the major stakeholders and objectively with no covert motives to marginalize any group of people or their culture.

Officially, we have the GCE Board and two Anglo-saxon type Universities in Buea and Bamenda. We now have a Higher Teachers Training College and two Higher Technical Teachers Training Colleges in Bambili and Kumba. Practically however, these institutions need to take care of the Anglophone Subsystem of education by recruiting more Anglophones than Francophones into their training programs. Let me quickly add that I do not prescribe that these schools admit Only Anglophones but that to fulfill their mission, they must give a proportionately high place to Anglophones than is presently the case in Bambili. Those responsible for admission to these schools should provide a mechanism for minority protection in these schools that does not necessarily replace competence! That can be done transparently.
My perception is that we are in a long process of merging that has not yet been concluded even if the process has taken 53 years. The only way to ensure that Anglophones and their subsystems are protected is to return to a federation in which the Anglophones can determine policies regarding those subsystems reserved for the federal states. Until then, we are condemned to be on the watch out at all times. The Anglophone Teachers Trade Unions and Associations (CATTU and TAC) must continue to be the watch dogs of our Subsystem together with the PTAs.
John Taiti Fodje

Bibliography
1- Various Press Releases by TAC, from 1991 to 1994
2- Various Press Releases by the Confederation of Anglophone PTAs 1992-1994
3- Various Communiques by CATTU 2006 - 2009
4- Memorandum of the KNDP to the UC of September 1964 on Matters of National Interest.
5. Letter from the General President of CPNC- Dr.EML Endeley to President Ahidjo of 21/3/ 1962.
6- UB and UBa websites
7- Report of the Special Commission on the Creation of an Examination Board 1993
8- Past Questions in various Technical Examinations for Anglophones- "CAP & Baccalaureate" 1992-2004.

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