Don’t destroy Anglophone edu. sys - CATTU

Executive Members of the Cameroon Teachers Trade Union, CATTU, and the Teachers Association of Cameroon, TAC, have warned the Government to desist from repeated moves to destroy the Anglophone sub system of education.

According to them, the flooding of Francophones in the Higher Technical Teachers Training College and ENS Bambili is a deliberate attempt by Government to deny Anglophones employment opportunities.

The executive members of the two teachers’ associations said, since independence, Government has deprived Anglophones of technical education, as there are no polytechnics or higher technical colleges to train them, while these technical infrastructures are well developed in the Francophone section of the country.

“Science and technology are pivotal to development. When people cannot acquire competences in Science and technology, their economy crumbles, that is why we cannot find Anglophones in top positions in parastatals, because they have been deprived of technical higher education for decades.

And even when teachers fought for the creation of the Higher Technical Teachers Training College, HTTTC, Bambili, to train Anglophone teachers, the institution has practically been taken over by Froncophones, as 80 percent of teachers who graduate from HTTTC Bambili are Francophones.

These are people who don’t have a mastery of English Language and are expected to graduate and teach our children in English, what kind of English will they be teaching our children,” they quipped.

The teachers’ trade union executives added that; “We observed with discontent in April and May this year, during the teaching practice; when Francophones were sent out to teach in English. They could not prepare lesson notes and express themselves in English. You can imagine the embarrassment and disaster they caused during the teaching practice. We don’t want people to be confusing our children.”

The representatives of the teachers, led by the Executive Secretary of CATTU, Wilfred Tasang, and the National President of TAC, Paul Ninjo, were addressing educational stakeholders in the Southwest Region on August 29 in Buea, on the problems plaguing education in Cameroon, especially the Anglophone sub system of education while seeking ways of preserving it.

The teachers said despite the numerous complaints forwarded to Anglophones who hold top positions in Government, the complaints have not yielded any positive results.

“Most of our politicians are afraid to speak out about problems affecting the Anglophones. Most of them are interested in their positions than the collective interest of those they claim to be representing.

We want to thank the MPs and Senators of the opposition party for their efforts. But what we need now is a collective effort from MPs, Senators and Ministers of all parties to come together and deliberate on the problems affecting the Anglophone system of education, because education does not respect political leanings,” they stated.

The teachers, however, called on the Government to institute certificates awarded by the Cameroon GCE Board as prerequisites for admission into HTTTC Bambili and Kumba.

“We want the Government to accept only those with certificates issued by the GCE Board into HTTTC Bambili and Kumba, irrespective of their regions of origin. It is only through this, that we can be sure that those who have been admitted into these institutions have studied in English and will be able to teach in English upon graduation.

CATTU, TAC Confront GCE Board Registrar Meanwhile, the teachers’ representatives used the Buea forum to confront the GCE Board Registrar, Humphrey Ekema Monono, on the non-payment of outstation allowances of teachers who marked the 2013/2014 session of the GCE.

When they met the Registrar in his office, Monono pleaded with them to be patient and promised that their problem will be looked into.

According to the Registrar, he was preparing a report to take to Yaounde to meet the Prime Minister on the matter.