One of the hottest topics for discussion at the Major National Dialogue from September 30 to October 4, 2019 at the Yaounde Conference Centre to help end the war in the North West and South West Regions was education. This is more so as it all began with a strike by teachers’ trade unions in the North West and South West Regions before evolving into an armed conflict.
At the root of the 2016 teachers’ industrial action was the alleged domination, marginalization and gradual erosion of the English sub-system of education. Talk about education in English-speaking Cameroon, Prof. Njeuma knows it to her finger tips. Appointed Vice Minister of Education way back in 1975, pioneer Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea, and later Rector of the University of Yaounde I, Mrs. Njeuma has seen it all. For, complaints about the gradual erosion of the “Anglo-Saxoness” in the quality of education dispensed in the English-speaking regions of the country did not begin in 2016. Rather, they date back to the 1970s by Anglophone students in the then Federal University of Cameroon, Yaounde – today split into the Universities of Yaounde I and II.
It was therefore no surprise that given such rich background, knowledge and experience, the soft-spoken former university lecturer and politician was able to steer fellow Educational System Committee members to arrive at major decisions at the close of the Major National Dialogue on October 4, 2019. These included maintaining the English and French sub-systems of education with their specificities, organising special catch-up classes for children in the two English-speaking regions who have been forced out of school in the past three years by the conflict; and ensuring that peace returns in order to facilitate smooth classes.
Others included hastening up preparations for the holding of the much-talked about National Educational Forum, focusing on skills-based (technical and vocational) education, and the creation of a Higher Teachers’ Training College in the University Of Buea.