PRESERVING EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

The Minister of Secondary Education orders the temporary closure of five illegal private secondary schools in Yaounde.

This was during an unannounced control visit which the Minister of Secondary Education, Professor Nalova Lyonga, undertook to private secondary schools in the Mfoundi and Mefou-and-Akono Divisions of the Centre Region, on 21 January 2025, to ensure compliance with the rules and regulations governing the setting up and operation of private secondary schools in Cameroon.

Together with the Governor of the Centre Region, Naseri Paul Bea, and other top officials of the Ministry, five private secondary schools were shut down. These include: Vision College of Excellence, FASSTAC College, CBC Pacesetters Group of Baptist, all located in Simbock neighbourhood, Hillside Academy College located in Mbalngong, and Collège La Félicité based in Mendong.

These schools were functioning in total violation of rules regulating the operation of private secondary schools in Cameroon. After having been sealed at the beginning of the 2024-2025 academic year, following a notification of their non-compliance to legal procedures relating to setting up, opening and extension of private secondary schools, thy went ahead to break the seals and proceeded with their illegal operation.

Worst case scenarios were witnessed in CBC Pacesetters Group of Baptist with an appalling learning environment, void of appropriate teaching and learning infrastructures. In addition, all these schools are operating nursery, primary and secondary education on the same premises, with no appropriate infrastructures, further compromising the safety and security of learners.

In order not to deprive the children of their rights to quality education and safeguard their future, Professor Nalova Lyonga instructed all the officials whose schools have been shut down to relocate their students to regular schools and ensure that all the students in examination classes are duly registered for their exams.

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By ordering the temporary closure of these private secondary schools, the Minister of Secondary Education reasserts the government’s commitment to preserving educational standards through the promotion of quality education as well as safe and conducive learning environments for Cameroonian secondary school students. Therefore, this action is a clear message to private secondary schools’ proprietors that abiding by the rules regulating the operation of private secondary schools is not negotiable.

Professor Nalova Lyonga’s determination to making the rule-of-law prevail in the secondary education subsector is unwavering. Such control visits will continue nationwide so that all private secondary schools in Cameroon comply with the regulations in force.

By Aimé Ngidjol

ARO1 – CELCOM/MINESEC