Starting on the good foot

This morning some 6.5 million young Cameroonians of the elementary and secondary school system will be taking the road back to school after a long third term break.

For some, it is a fly-over given their impressive results at the certificate examinations; for others, it is a new challenge as they will have to learn how to cope with the exigencies of a new class while for some – unfortunately, very many – it will be time to take stock, try to correct the errors that led to failure with the hope of catching up and being recognized among the few who would have made it successful come June 2016, the time of reckoning.

Each new school year seems to carry forward the problems of the previous years as seen from the recurrent nature of same. For example, class sizes are still too large to comfortably accommodate the ever-increasing number of students or pupils, textbooks are very difficult to come by and even when they are available, run-away prices are keeping parents in a fretful posture, many school buildings are in a very rickety form, teachers’ wages are too close to the bare minimum with few teachers ever boastful about what they earn, government subsidies remain more a declaration of intent than real cash flows that can help get things going faster especially in terms of providing basic didactic materials badly needed by teachers for effective work.

As if these problems were not already a great burden, the degenerating security situation in many parts of the country has come out, throwing a tool into the works of the educational authorities wont on having a problem-free academic year.

Granted, the security problems are circumscribed to parts of the Far-North and East Regions; but how can the academic year be seen as serene with some parts of the country seeing their schools closed down and where even the most enthusiastic students and pupils are held down in their homes because of security related problems?

To add salt to the injury of these distending problems natural factors have come into the show. In the northern parts of the country, floods are virtually on the rampage, greatly reducing enthusiasm for returning to school especially when, in many cases, getting to school involves crossing several fast-running rivers or streams.

In the Greater South, the rainy season is already in full swing, bringing in its wake many transportation problems. Many roads are in impracticable condition while some bridges have been swept away, compounding the return to school movement of today.

The situation is very noticeable in the NW and SW Regions, best known for their baked bricks or stone classrooms or dormitories, characteristic of this part of the country noted for boarding schools located in far-flung destinations for their quietude necessary for studies far away from the noisy and boisterous city locations.

Getting to Okoyong, Fontem,Ndu, which host some renown faith-based institutions will be quite tricky today while even government institutions inLebialem, Manyu,Kupe-Muanenguba, Meme and Ndian in the SWR and Boyo, Bui, Donga-Mantung, Menchum, Momo and Ngo-Ketunjia in the NWR will not be easy to access for new students travelling to these areas. All these problems are like a source of discouragement, but Cameroonian students have never been known to succumb to adversity.

Memories are still fresh in our minds about the difficulties students had while preparing for their end-of-year examinations last June with repeated power outages which greatly undermined their efforts.
But many students made it using rough-and-ready devices to provide for lighting.

Cameroonian students and pupils are therefore called upon as the newyear begins today, to show proof of the same determination to succeed. Of course, the combined synergy of parents and government, the two very important other stake-holders in the educational process, is needed for the accompaniment of these young Cameroonians in such a difficult context.

The numerous problems identified should not constitute an obstacle in this take-off stage; for starting on the good foot from the outset is a guarantee for the successes of tomorrow.