2022 EDITION OF THE NATIONAL WEEK OF BILINGUALISM

OFFICIAL BILINGUALISM IS IN FULL GEAR

The Adamawa Region testifies of the vibrancy of official Bilingualism during the launching ceremony of the 17^th Edition of the National Bilingualism Week held at the Independence Square in Ngaoundere, on 31 January 2022.

 The ceremony was presided at by the Governor of the Adamawa Region, Kildadi Taguieke Boukar, personal representative of Prof Nalova Lyonga, Minister of Secondary Education, in the presence of Akat Fidelis Etta, the Inspector General of Services in the Ministry of Secondary Education and head of the delegation. The massive turnout of the officials and members of the Education Community of the Region epitomises their full commitment to official Bilingualism which is one of the institutional pillars of Cameroon.

 Poems, sketches, songs and paintings are some of the intellectual, cultural and artistic activities the students of the Adamawa Region used to showcase their proficiency in both English and French languages. This was during the official ceremony to launch the 2022 Edition of the National Week of Bilingualism, under the theme “Bilingualism: a catalyst for social cohesion in the context of decentralisation”.

 Speaking during the event, Robert Sama Eko, the Inspector-Coordinator General in charge of the teaching and promotion of Bilingualism in the Ministry of Secondary Education, acknowledged the efforts made by the State authorities through the Ministry of Secondary Education in making official Bilingualism a reality for all Cameroonians nationwide. Worthy of note is the consistent promotion of bilingual education via the Special Bilingual Education Programme (SBEP). The programme which keeps on extending every year is now fully implemented in 154 secondary schools in the country, in addition to the creation and transformation of bilingual secondary and high schools in both general and technical education.

(2) In the speech delivered on behalf of Prof Nalova Lyonga, Minister of Secondary Education, Governor Kildadi Taguieke Boukar stated that bilingualism is to reckon with as a unifying factor in the decentralisation era, given the diversity of cultures and languages that characterizes our country. “Even though powers and competences are devolved to regional and local authorities, we shall remain united by English and French, our two official languages”, the Governor underscored.

The event was equally an opportunity for the Minister of Secondary Education to invite each education stakeholder, students, teachers and parents alike, to play their respective roles to help education adapt to new situations and overcome the arising challenges. Parents were explicitly urged to commit more to their children’s education so as to address the burning issue of moral decadence in our schools and homes, and definitely help them enjoy the numerous benefits of Bilingualism in Cameroon and worldwide.

Aimé Ngidjol

CELCOM2022

THE MINISTER OF SECONDARY EDUCATION AWARDED THE SPECIAL ADEAN AWARD FOR LEADERSHIP, EXCELLENCE AND TRANSPARENCY IN MANAGEMENT

The Minister of Secondary Education, Professor Nalova Lyonga, received The Special ADEAN AWARD for Leadership, Excellence and Transparency in Management by the Association of former students of ENSET ANNEXE of Nkolbisson, best known under the French acronym as ADEAN. The ceremony took place on Wednesday, 19 January 2022 at the Distance Education Centre in Yaounde.

Speaking through a zoom call during this solemn ceremony from Washington was Achille Ekeu, CEO and President of ADEAN AWARD. He mentioned that the organizing committee based on public data and facts obtained on ground decided to offer this special award to the Minister of Secondary Education for her actions taken to improve the educational system in Cameroon. Some of these achievements amongst others include:

• The introduction of Distance Education during the outbreak of COVID-19;
• The digitalization of the payment of fees that helps to control the school map and master the student population as well as accountability;
• The reinforcement of technical and vocational education by constructing more workshops and specialized rooms;
• The construction of more science laboratories;
• The CLEAN school program that aims at creating green spaces, water supply and water system toilets in schools;
• The construction of complete schools and bore holes;
• The installation of solar energy in areas that do not have electric energy;
• The signing of several Memoranda of Understanding (MOU)with other partners for the exchange of experiences;
• The transformation of several schools into bilingual schools, including technical bilingual schools;
• The introduction of surveillance cameras to fight insecurity in our schools;
• The signing of thousands of advancements, paying transport allowances to newly posted graduates from ENSET and École Normale Supérieure;
• The introduction of advance salaries to graduates from ENSET and École Normale Supérieure.

This award was received by the Secretary-General (SG) of the Ministry of Secondary Education, Professor Pierre Fabien Nkot, on behalf of the Minister. It was handed in the presence of top officials of the Ministry and members of the ADEAN Delegation. In his acceptance speech, the Secretary-General extended the warm greetings from the Minister and applauded the initiative. “We don’t want to become a society where, when two people meet it is to say rubbish about the third one but we should also have moments where we are celebrating our staff”, he said. He highlighted the achievements of Her Excellency Professor Nalova Lyonga and emphasized the introduction of Distance Education which was an emergency response to the outburst of the COVID­-19 pandemic to ensure that all students have access to education no matter their locations through digital means as she says ‘education cannot wait’. He concluded by saying that with all these achievements and reforms, ADEAN’s choice to hand over this award to the Minister of Secondary Education is grounded.

 The ADEAN Award was created in 2017 by Achille Ekeu in the United States. This year is the 5^th edition of the award. It includes all former students of ENSET ANNEXE of Nkolbisson-Yaounde. This ANNEXE of ENSET of the University Center of Douala then, now University of Douala was created as part of the implementation of the Cameroon-Sofati-Canada project whose objectives were to build 6 top quality Technical High Schools in various regions of the country and train high quality Technical High School teachers in Cameroon and at the University of Montreal-Canada. Achille Ekeu was part of those teachers who obtained a Mechanical Engineering Degree and a teaching degree (DIPET1) from that school in 1992.

By Drusilla Mbah E.

CELCOM/MINESEC

                                                            THE TEACHING OF FRENCH LANGUAGE

Cameroon partners with France to Revamp the Teaching of French as a Foreign Language in Secondary Education.

It is the essence of the partnership convention signed on 5 January 2022 in Yaounde.

His Excellency Christophe Guilhou, French Ambassador to Cameroon and Professor Nalova Lyonga, Cameroon’s Minister of Secondary Education formalised the partnership Convention relating to the teaching of French to English-speaking teachers of Cameroon. The ceremony took place in Yaounde on 5 January 2022 under the keen eyes of His Excellency Lejeune Mbella Mbella, Cameroon’s Minister of External Relations.

Through this two-year partnership Convention, France commits to provide the adequate financial support and expertise needed to train teachers of French in Secondary Education, so that they will be able to better teach learners of French as a foreign or second language.

The convention which will be implemented within the framework of the PROFLE+ Distance Learning Programme is a skills development programme to be achieved by means of home-based in-service training. The target is to ease the mastery and perfect use of quality French in Secondary Education, all of which will consolidate English and French official Bilingualism. Our training of trainers shall enforce national unity and cohesion as the three speakers rightly reminded the audience of.

The Minister of Secondary Education asked: do we want to be the pinnacle of languages in Central Africa or not? Professor Lyonga thanked the Head of State for giving her full powers to sign on behalf of Cameroon in this programme where “training of trainers” is undertaken by the native speakers.

Aimé Ngidjol

CELCOM