More and more children are being deprived of education in the Republic of the Congo over a protracted conflict and the country’s weak education system, an NGO says.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said Monday that some 850,000 children have been displaced and 900 schools have been destroyed as a result of intensified violence in Congo’s central Kasai region over the past year.

The group said the population is part of some 7.4 million children who are out of school in Congo as the conflict keeps taking toll on the country’s already weakened education system.

Some 92 percent of children in the six-to-11-year-old age group are out of school in the violence-hit towns of Kalemie and Tanganyika, the group said.

The group also warned that the vast Central African country risks losing its next generation as only 4 percent of humanitarian funds for education have been received this year.

“When children are displaced they are forced to suspend their education, or drop it altogether. This disruption to their development hinders their personal progress, and has detrimental effects to the socio-economics of the entire country,” said Celestin Kamori, the council’s Congo education program coordinator.

The campaigning group called on international donors to prioritize education emergencies.

“Donors should recognize that education is also a protection tool. Children enrolled in emergency education classes, catch-up classes and child-friendly spaces are less likely to join armed groups,” said Kamori, adding, “We need more funding to scale up emergency education support so that we don’t lose a generation.”

The Norwegian Refugee Council said many schools that are spared of the effects of fighting in Congo are used to shelter displaced families, further complicating efforts to restore the education system.

It added that school-aged children account for more than 17 percent of some 3.8 million people who have been displaced in Congo over the past two decades.

Source: Presstv

Thousands of students, shopkeepers and staff in Cameroon have protested this week against what they claim is the marginalisation of the country’s English-speaking minority population. The so-called ghost-town protests in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, including the city of Bamenda in the north and the town of Buea in the southwest, which led to the closure of schools, shops and market stalls, are the latest in a series of actions launched in November 2016.

Initiated by teachers and lawyers, the protests have revolved around encouraging people to use absenteeism to challenge what many English-speaking citizens claim is the dominance of French in society. Thousands of students stayed away as schools resumed this week. Petrol stations and shops were also empty.

Many protesters called for full linguistic representation in schools, courts and in the government. Cameroon’s English-speaking citizens make up around 20 percent of the nation’s total population of almost 24 million. The rest of the country speaks French, which is the language of use for government business.

Activists in the Southwest Region of Ambazonia told Al Jazeera that a mass skipping of the first day of school – Monday, September 4 – was a success. “Some people think that parents are not sending their kids to school because of the militarisation of these two regions, but that’s not the case,” said a participant who wanted to remain anonymous.

“How do you want kids to go back to a system that we are protesting against, the system that we want cleaned? It’s a peaceful protest.” On Monday, pro-government newspapers, the Cameroon Tribune and L’essentiel du Cameroun, published front-page stories showing children attending school as normal.

Security forces were also deployed in the affected areas at the start of the week to ensure there was no repeat of last year’s violent protests which witnessed the use of live ammunition and tear gas by state security forces. Since protests began last year, the government has frequently cracked down on disorder in the Anglophone regions of the country.

President Paul Biya, in power for 35 years, ordered a series of arrests and shut down internet access for three months. Security forces have killed at least six people to date and arrested hundreds more. Last Friday, President Biya ordered the release of dozens of political activists in a move seen as an attempt to ease tensions. The UN has called for both sides to engage in constructive dialogue.

Source: Al Jazeera

The French Cameroun dictator, Paul Biya has announced a financial package to entice religious leaders and some proprietors of private schools in Southern Cameroons to open their doors for the 2017 academic year. The Minister of Secondary Education said the sum of 2 billion FCFA has been made available as subvention to private primary and secondary schools in the country.

The Minister of Secondary Education, Jean Ernest Ngalle Massena Bibehe specified that the secondary and basic education sectors will each receive CFA one billion. The envelope will be distributed to both religious establishments and lay private schools that will go through a CPDM audition.

It was also revealed that 658 schools will benefit from the subvention including 28 teachers’ training schools, 508 schools within the general education category, 123 technical schools and 35 school management boards. Education officials have also hinted that payments will depend on the size of the institution and that only schools that had previously applied have been shortlisted for the grant.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has however rejected the move stating that it remains a vain attempt at stifling the Southern Cameroons revolution. A spokesperson for the Consortium told Cameroon Concord News that the regime is broke and Biya has been unable to provide simple computer laptops he promised students in higher institutions of learning in the country.

By Rita Akana with files from CRTV

There are reports of tension mounting in Kumba, the chief city in the Meme constituency in Southern Cameroons over the issue of ‘back to school’. Cameroon Info.Net recently revealed that the many key players in the educational sector have received threats from unknown Southern Cameroons militant groups ordering them to end all forms of activities in their schools latest August 14.

We gathered that some schools in Kumba had started organizing holiday and catch-up classes in preparation for the anticipated academic year 2017/2018. However, most proprietors confirmed that they are not ready to risk their lives, or that of their pupils and students or even their assets for school resumption.

Registration of students and pupils for the new academic year in Southern Cameroons has remained very slow as the revolution enters its 11 month. Some proprietors and school administrators confirmed that many parents were sending their children to schools in Yaounde, Douala and Bafoussam.

The demand for transfer certificates by Anglophone parents to send their kids to schools out of West Cameroon has been unprecedented. Most of the parents are still skeptical about school resumption in the Anglophone regions after the failure and political GCE that was staged last academic year by the Francophone regime in Yaoundé. In Kumba in particular, tension has generated panic and safety issues to the effect that most parents do not want to send their kids to school.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

The so-called candidates for the General Certificate Education (GCE) are still waiting for their results and this is causing general panic among families that betrayed the Southern Cameroons struggle to sit in for the exams. La Republique du Cameroun has launched many public entrance examinations into the public service and children from West Cameroon were unable to take part because the GCE results have still not been released.

Some of the directors of the professional colleges like Jean Marie Dongo of the National Post, Telecommunications and Information Technologies have announced that Southern Cameroons students can still sit for the entrance examination while awaiting the results.

Correspondingly, pressure is set to be mounting on the Board Registrar, Humphrey Ekema Monono who recently affirmed that the issues are very complicated than it was anticipated. Dr. Monono told CRTV that “Candidates registered in Bamenda in the Northwest Region and took the exams but in Yaoundé because of the Anglophone crisis. The GCE board must take this into account.”

However, Cameroon Concord News sources at the GCE board reported that the results in Southern Cameroons were catastrophic and there are talks about how to lower the scores and the grading. The GCE was indeed a complete fiasco as candidates who had missed school for a whole academic year also had to deal with special centers created by the French Cameroun political elites.

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News

Jean Ernest Masséna Ngallé Bibehe, the Francophone Minister of Secondary Education, has closed 61 private schools for the year 2017/2018.

Officially, the minister in charge of secondary education referred to the violation of the legal formalities of creation and openness, to justify his decision.

Cameroon Concord News understands 7 out of the so-called10 regions are affected by the measure of the Minister in charge of Secondary Education.

In the Center region, 19 institutions, 17 of which are in the Mfoundi division alone have been closed.
For the Littoral region, 30 establishments were hit by the measure, 14 of them in the city of Douala, precisely in the Wouri division.

6 establishments were closed in the Bamenda County of Southern Cameroons, 2 in the French Cameroun East region, and 2 in the Buea County of West Cameroon. A school was also shut down in the Adamaoua (Vina) and another one in the West.

By Sonne Peter
Cameroon Concord News Group

The GCE Board is currently organizing a special session of the Ordinary level 2017 examination at Franky Comprehensive Secondary School where GCE scripts were allegedly stolen by thieves. Cameroon Concord News gathered from sources at the school that the re-staging of the examination was authorized by the so-called Board Registrar, Humphrey Monono.

The massacre is continuing as candidates were seen at the school campus rewriting the papers that were ‘ stolen’. Ever since the incident, there has not been any police investigation to determine which of the papers were carried away and no arrest on the issue.

Correction of the GCE scripts is presently going on in Buea and Yaounde and questions are now being asked on when the Franky Comprehensive School candidates will finish writing and also if examiners will be recalled from their homes to mark this new version of the CPDM GCE.

Controversy has also erupted on who set the questions and cat calls have greeted the whole scenario with some Anglophone parents saying that Humphrey Monono and his gang should accept that the organization of the 2017 GCE has been a complete and total fiasco.

By Sama Ernest
Cameroon Concord News

The management of the GCE Board has shut down the Bamenda marking Centers, Cameroon Concord News has learned. We gathered that the decision was reached after a meeting with the Francophone governor. The Board leadership has been quoted as saying that the institution cannot guarantee the security of the teachers summoned to correct the examination papers due to the current state of affairs in the Bamenda County set up as a result of the Southern Cameroons crisis.

Teachers who have to correct the examination papers have all been directed to the Buea and Limbe centers in the South West Region. Our senior correspondent in Mamfe, the chief town in Manyu Division hinted that several numbers of teachers have left the North West region via Bachou-Akaegbe in Manyu to Buea for the exercise.

The closure of the Bamenda centers announced recently by the well fed registrar, Humphery Ekema Monono (seen here) also involves examiners for the Ordinary levels. Humphrey Ekema Monono has also sent out a threatening message to all Southern Cameroons teachers warning against lateness. It is therefore in the South-West Region that all the participants in the correction chain will be working on the official examination copies.

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime believes security and working conditions are better assured in the Fako constituency. Some of the teachers who spoke to us but sued for anonymity said they were traveling to Buea and Limbe for tourism as due to the low participation of candidates, the number of working days have been drastically reduced. This means the markers will be paid less.

By Eyong Johnson
Cameroon Concord News

The Newly appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea, Professor Ngomo Horace Manga and the new Pro-Chancellor, Professor Ako Edward Oben have been installed into their respective functions on Monday the 10th of July 2017.

They were installed at the Dorothy Limunga Amphitheatre 750 of the University of Buea by the Minister of Higher Education, Chancellor of Academic Orders, Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo. The Higher Education boss instructed both academicians to uphold peace, conviviality and security in a university that exemplifies the Anglo-Saxon culture of Cameroon.

Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo insisted that the new VC and the Pro-Chancellor have to ensure quality education at a time the Bachelor- Masters -Doctorate (BMD) demands flexibility and the professionalization in teaching.
The Minister congratulated Professor Ako Edward Oben, who is former Rector of the University of Maroua for his academic prowess that has spanned decades in Cameroon and abroad. He was challenged to ensure that UB “the place to be” upholds its reputed academic tenets in a peaceful environment.

To the New VC, Professor Ngomo Horace Manga, Associate Professor in Applied Chemical Engineering, the Minister exhorted him to transform the University Campus into an educational yardstick of professional excellence in a changing world. He was Secretary General in the Ministry of Higher education before his appointment. A cream of personalities and students watched the two distinguished professors take office.

The VC and the Pro -Chancellor from Ndian and Manyu Divisions respectively, received blessings from traditional rulers while dance groups and the UB choir immortalized the event with interesting displays. The two were appointed in a Presidential decree of 27th June 2017 to replace Dr. Nalova Lyonga Limumga and Professor Maurice Tchuente.

Source: CRTV

There are reports that hundreds of answer GCE scripts of students of Franky Comprehensive High School, a not-too-old but renowned institution in Yaoundé, have been stolen by unknown ‘night-jars’.

The scripts were kept in an office of the school pending transfer to the accommodation center of the GCE Board.

The men of the underworld are said to have found their way into and out of the said office through the ceiling.