LAUNCHNG CEREMONY OF THE NOVEL “CLEAN SCHOOL OR SCHOOL WITH A DIFFERENCE”

The Minister of Secondary Education, Professor Nalova Lyonga, under whose patronage the initiative was undertaken, presided over the launching ceremony of the book titled “Clean School” or “School with a Difference”. This event took place on Friday 9 February 2024, at the premises of GBTHS Nsam. The ceremony aimed to shed light on the significance of maintaining hygiene and sanitation in schools, with emphasis on school toilets. Accompanying the Minister of Secondary Education, Professor Nalova Lyonga were the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Secondary Education in Charge of Teachers’ Training, Boniface Bayaola, the Inspector General of Services, Fidelis Akat, the Inspector General of Education, Jean-Paul Marcelin Mebada, Inspector Coordinator Generals, Pedagogic Inspectors all of MINESEC and other stakeholders to participate and engage in the thoughtful presentations.

The opening segment of the event focused on a sketch depicting challenges and consequences of poor hygienic conditions in school toilets. The portrayal emphasized the importance of a healthy school environment as advocated by Professor Nalova Lyonga in her “Clean School Vision”.

The Regional Pedagogic Inspector Meli Josée took the podium and offered explanatory notes on the book’s content laying emphasis on both the message and style. She commended the initiative, emphasizing the transformative power of a clean school on both the physical well-being of students and their overall learning experience.

The ceremony proceeded with a series of presentations from panelists made up of Professor Nalova Lyonga, Jean Paul Marcelin Mebada, Francoise Desire Mbesse, the editor of the novel, Sophie Francoise Bapambe Yap, the editorial adviser and Yvonne Flore Belema, the author of the novel. These presentations took an interactive question and answer session with the audience and highlighted the fact that this novel is a contribution that will properly define Professor Nalova Lyonga in the “Clean School Vision” as one from God aimed at saving lives. Shading more light on this, the panelists made reference to the UNGA resolution of 28 July 2022, which adopted a landmark resolution recognizing the human right to a healthy environment, stating that “All people have the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. This book thus uses a transformative policy of a story and real-life experience of the author in order to pass across a message of cleanliness in schools and the importance of parent to talk to and with their children.

This ceremony was a resounding success, as stakeholders recognized the critical importance of maintaining cleanliness in school toilets. With the support of the Minister of Secondary Education and the collective efforts of educators, administrators, policy makers and ACAHIJEC, it is hoped that the book will serve as a catalyst for positive change and transform school toilets into clean, conducive and healthy environment.

By

JOSO Sophie

ARO2/CELCOM

CLOSING CEREMONY OF THE 19^th EDITION OF THE NATIONAL WEEK OF BILINGUALISM

Official Bilingualism is the Core of the Cameroon’s Identity

To Cameroonians, official bilingualism is a building force, a unifying factor, a means of promoting civic and moral virtues.

These are some key statements made by students at the closing ceremony of the 19^th Edition of the National Week of Bilingualism chaired by Professor Nalova Lyonga, Minister of Secondary Education, on 6 February 2024 at the Conference Centre in Yaounde. Dr Asheri Kilo, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Basic Education, Boniface Bayaola, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Secondary Education in charge of Teachers’ Training and the Secretary-General of the Centre Region, personal representative of Naseri Paul Bea, Governor of the Centre Region, graced the event with their presence.

Organised under the theme, “Bilingualism: vector of digitalization of education and the promotion of civic and moral values for a peaceful and emergent Cameroon”, the 19^th Edition of the National Week of Bilingualism, as in previous editions, lived up to the expectations of the Government of Cameroon.

In a series of intellectual and recreational activities including, the debate for and against the theme of this edition, poems and sketches magnifying English and French official bilingualism, students from various schools in Yaounde and all over Cameroon, showcased a seamless mastery of English and French languages while emphasizing the role of digitalization in sowing the seeds of prosperity for a peaceful and emergent Cameroon.

This earned them not only rounds of applauses from the audience, but also prizes from the minister as a way of encouragement to keep up with this trend. As such, a special prize, made up of books and a comfortable amount of money, was granted to five schools for the Magazine production, with Government High School Bafoussam topping the chart.

In a protocol-free talk, the Minister of Secondary Education commended both the students and teachers for the time that they took to prepare for the various activities performed during the ceremony to demonstrate their mastery of both English and French languages.

Professor Nalova Lyonga reiterated the equal status of English and French as the two official languages of Cameroon and invited parents to send their children to do the Special Bilingual Education Programme which will open them up to limitless opportunities worldwide. The minister equally urged education officials to inform the entire education community, and mostly parents, of the options available in secondary schools as far as the promotion of bilingualism is concerned in Cameroon.

Secondary Education boss tasked the Inspectorate of Pedagogy in charge of the Teaching and Promotion of Bilingualism in the Ministry of Secondary Education to see into the training of trainers so that students should have models in the proper and accurate use of both English and French, and ultimately become specialists in these two official languages.

In this regard, Professor Nalova Lyonga sent a strong message to teachers, instructing them to commit to their job and hold the profession up and train first-class human resources that will be admired and sought for around the world and preserve Cameroon’s unique identity at the global stage.

By Aimé Ngidjol

ARO1-CELCOM

Assessing the Level of Pedagogical Progress in each region

The Minister of Secondary Education presides over the Coordination Meeting with Regional Delegates

 Professor Nalova Lyonga, Minister of Secondary Education, in her commitment to ensuring quality education across the national territory, presided over the coordination meeting with Regional Delegates of Secondary Education on Wednesday 31 January, 2024 at the premises of Distance Education Centre. In attendance were SEESEN, the Secretary General, officials of the central administration, Regional Delegates of MINESEC.

The primary objective of this meeting was to assess the level of pedagogical progress implemented in each region during the first term of the ongoing academic year. The progress was centered on statistics with regards to hours covered, syllable/ lesson covered (theoretical, practical and digitalized lessons), and evaluating students’ performance. From the statistics presented by the Regional Delegates, it was encouraging to notice that apart from digitalized lessons which had a low coverage rate, hours covered, theoretical and practical lessons and student’s success rate were all approximately above 45 percent. 

Next was the percentage of students across the country who received report cards at the end of the first term and the measures taken to see into it that all students receive their report cards. From the presentations of the Regional Delegates, more than 95 percent of students received their report cards at the end of the first term. However, as at the time of the meeting, the constraints which stopped most students not to receive their report cards had been resolved.

Besides these, emphasis was equally on the percentage rate of students who had registered for end of year certificate exams. It was noticed that the number of students who have registered for DECC exams this year have recorded a significant drop as compared to last year.

At the end of the working session, Professor Nalova Lyonga gave the following recommendations to the Regional Delegates:

Regional Delegates should send a monthly report of the progression rate registered in their respective regions, comparing it with previous year’s situation to the appropriate structure of the central administration;

They should also deplore RPIs on the field regularly in order to ensure lessons are effectively taught in their respective regions;

Again, Regional Delegates should immediately put in place catch up strategies in order to cover up for instructional time lost during the first term. The Minister should receive the remediation strategy from each Regional Delegate with immediate effect;

Regional Delegates should regularly send a list of names of teachers who are absent from their duty posts with justification documents;

In addition, Regional Delegates should send a list of vacant posts in their respective regions immediately to the Minster in order for the necessary measures to be taken to that effect;

Lastly, Regional Delegates should engage their respective sub educational communities in the fight against violence in the school milieu.