Anglophone teachers' unions petition Biya

An amalgamation of teachers’ trade unions is sending a petition to President Biya lamenting on what they say are the frustrations of Anglophone students in the country.

The group made up of Catholic Education Workers Trade Union, CEWOTU, the Presbyterian Education Authority Teachers Trade Union, PEATTU, the Cameroon Teachers Trade Union, CATTU, and the Teachers Association of Cameroon, TAC met recently in Bamenda and drafted the petition which is yet to be submitted to the head of state.

Their main complaint is the marginalization of Anglophone candidates in competitive entrance examinations into the Higher Teachers Training Colleges, HTTCs and the Higher Technical Teachers Training Colleges, HTTTC Bambili. They expressed disappointment with the meagre number of Anglophones admitted into the colleges during the latest admission exercise.

The petition states in part that the marginalization of Anglophones is a violation of provisions of the constitution which state that “the state shall ensure the protection of minorities and the rights of indigenous populations in accordance with the law.”

They also wrote that the discrimination is against the spirit of law No 98/004 of April 1998 laying down guidelines for education in Cameroon. The law organizes the country’s education system into two sub-systems “which shall co-exist, each preserving its specific method of evaluation and award of certificates.”

The teachers called the president’s attention to the fact that “the marginalization is part of a national plan to keep the Anglophones invisible,” and deprive them of their own quota of national resources. They also suggested that there appear to be a national plan to assimilate and annihilate bona fide Anglophones.

Noting that many Francophones with only a “smattering command of English language head departments on supposed Anglophone training colleges and impose the programs of the French sub-system, the trade unionists said the outright injustices threaten national peace. “Such a set up brings inefficient products as a mixture of French, English and Pidgin leaves a lot to be desired.”

To them, the translation from English into French of exam questions for the competitive entrance examination for these colleges is meant to appease francophone seeking places in the Anglo-Saxon training school. They condemned it outright and vowed to continue to agitate such lawless adventurism and the “reckless pacification of one national group at the expense of another.” They wondered why French speaking citizens should be employed to teach students who understand only English, whereas there are qualified English speaking trainers.

“Such injustices tell the world that Cameroonians in positions of authority charged with the lofty duty of choosing compatriots for training in the ‘grandes ecoles’ are enemies of the fatherland by their deliberate choice to trample on the dreams of a national group, thus keeping sidelined from nation building and to institutionalize mediocrity for personal gains at the expense of meritocracy.”

The trade unionists are asking that President Biya create a commission to investigate bribery and corruption allegations against personalities involved in the recruitment of trainers and admission of students in the institutions.

Biya is also called upon, in the petition, to investigate claims of Anglophobia and rackets hanging over admissions and recruitment in other government higher education institutions.