THE USE OF STANDARD ENGLISH IN CAMEROON

MINESEC and the British Council to Boost the Standards of the English Language in Secondary Schools

The Ministry of Secondary Education contemplates using the standards available at the British Council to deliver quality English language to Cameroonians.

His Excellency Barry Robert Lowen, British High Commissioner to Cameroon together with Charlie Walker, Director of International Operations at the British Council, were received by Professor Nalova Lyonga, Minister of Secondary Education, at the Distance Education Centre in Yaounde, on 31 October 2023.

For about two hours, Professor Nalova Lyonga and her high-profile guests exchanged views on boosting and harnessing the skills of English language teachers while opening up Cameroonians learners to British qualifications and study opportunities.

The audience was an opportunity for Secondary Education officials and the four-man delegation headed by the British High Commissioner to Cameroon, to further the cooperation on how to better infuse the standards of the English language in secondary school learners in Cameroon.

The Director of International Operations at the British Council, Charlie Walker, hailed the long-standing collaboration with MINESEC in delivering quality English language to Cameroonian learners and praised Secondary Education Boss for her efforts in establishing the Distance Education Centre which has helped to expand education to the greatest number of students in spite of the challenging modern contexts. This infrastructure is part of “the new ways to deliver English language teaching, examinations and seminars using the Internet”, he said.

The British Council expressed its readiness to continue working alongside MINESEC to build and enhance the skills of English language teachers. This will be done through capacity-building and in-service training opportunities, including the English Language Master Trainer which is one of the British Council’s flagship programmes dedicated to the training of trainers, as well as through other available resources, like the British Council’s online library whose link was shared with the ministry’s officials during the audience, as a practical step to set the collaboration going.

Acknowledging the robust support enjoyed so far from some British companies like Promethean and Net Dragon, MINESEC officials firmly stated their expectations in terms of language and digital laboratories which, not only will improve learners’ skills in the English language, but also bridge the gap in technical equipment and foster technology teaching and transfer. “We are interested to establish language laboratories for English and you can do that for us”, Professor Nalova Lyonga told her guests.

Aimé Ngidjol

Senior Staff-Celcom/MINESEC