Living in the 21st Century (12): El Paradiso

Louis Egbe Mbua



Fir trees from the water sprayed ground grow

To unimagined heights their kept tops float

Above the earth onto the shimmering skies

For before then no clouds an eye had seen.



Life-giving fruits from the fertile ground sprung;

Delightful and pleasing to human buds

And painting the earth like coloured sprays

That no human ever could ever have foreseen.



This was but the one part existing,

The other side of the new garden was

Not in the Eden East but hidden west

And on the shimmering West River side.



An afterthought so conceived like teens

That the East Garden in the cosmos it hangs

Strapped onto the unknown with a chasm

So far as no man a remote stretch attempts.



But insists with little foresight the other one;

Conjuring illusions from sources unknown

That the Hanging Gardens were paradise

To be kept, pruned and worked on site.



Hours passed, toil and sweat they exude,

Floods of tears were the fruitless outcome

Cries and groans were heard across the north:

“Where is the fruit, where are the flowers?”



They heard a chorus from the proverbial pruned

Garden trees, voices well watered and trimmed:

“We are in the real celestial El Paradiso !“

“But you are in the Fool’s Paradise!”

A Bamenda Date with Destiny (Part1): The Day Cometh, The Man Runneth

Bamenda, Cameroon

Louis Egbe Mbua

Not since the spectacular no-show of one of my friend’s first date with a London sophisticate has one witnessed another incident of such magnanimous ignominy. The much-hyped visit to Bamenda by President Paul Biya of The Republic of Cameroon was turned into the main event of the year, transformed into a speculative event of the month and finally to a spectacular non-event of the day. That it has descended into a colourless fiasco is an understatement. The unexpected confusion began when the government of Cameroon decided to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Cameroon’s independence this year, 2010. While there is nothing wrong in celebrating the year of a nations’ independence, it becomes a conundrum that needs to be addressed with tact and wisdom if that particular nation is comprised of two independent nation states complete with two different independence dates. Let the reader understand: for contemporary Cameroon is an amalgamation of two UN Trust Territories – The French Cameroun, now called the Republic of Cameroon; and which was under French Trusteeship and the Southern Cameroons under the UK Trusteeship, now under colonisation by The Republic of Cameroon. The latter attained an UN-sponsored independence on 1 October 1961 while the former – The Republic of Cameroon -- attained her independence under the same UN body on 1 January 1960. The two states merged to form The Federal Republic of Cameroon on 1 October 1961 with separate governments and internationally recognised boundaries.

So, when officials of The Republic of Cameroon with Capital in Yaoundé, made a unilateral decision to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the entire Cameroon this year, and without consultations with Southern Cameroons officials based in Buea, Bamenda and in the Diaspora, the stage was set for the unfolding political drama that has culminated into a dragging official disaster. To citizens of The Republic of Cameroon, there is nothing wrong with this disreputable arrangement, while Southern Cameroons citizens considered such a decision not only arrogant and historically dishonest, but a profound case of provocation; and an attempt by The Republic of Cameroon to cement her annexation ruse of their territory in violation of both national and international laws of states. Southern Cameroonian Nationalists and other concerned citizens of that state rejected outright, such a ubiquitous move, and what they believe to be that of a desperate Cameroon trying to hang on to illegality with their finger tips.

The Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), the liberation movement seeking to restore the independence of Southern Cameroons from the “vice-grip” of The Republic of Cameroons annexation, and The Southern Cameroons People’s Organisation (SCAPO) who has vowed to drive out La Repubique du Cameroun from the Southern Cameroons soil immediately reported the matter to the international community and the United Nations. As a result, President Paul Biya became extremely frightened of the implications and the consequences that may follow the prestige of Cameroon in relation to the international community. In a last gasp for political breath, Paul Biya then modified the “50^th anniversary of Cameroon’s Independence” to include another “50^th independence anniversary in 2011” to accommodate Southern Cameroons own independence date. While this may appear as an astute compromise to wiggle away from accusations of annexation, it appears this only helped in throwing a large dose of petrol or gas into an already explosive political conflagration since this only buttressed the legal arguments of the Southern Cameroonians as regards their stolen independence.

The United Nations on their part have maintained a diplomatic silence on this confused state of affairs. However, reliable reports state that the United Nations representative was invited to Yaoundé. His gift to the President of The Republic of Cameroon, it is alleged, was two flags – one for the Republic of Cameroon and the other for the Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons. If these allegations are true, it would mean that Paul Biya has no legal mandate to rule the Southern Cameroons, and that the Southern Cameroons nationalists have been symbolically vindicated in all intents and purposes in totality. Consequently, Paul Biya’s projected visit to Bamenda is a non-event since he will be visiting but a foreign state, meaning he must obtain a visa from the UN and Southern Cameroons. If he violates this rule, any Southern Cameroonian in Bamenda has the right to make a citizen’s arrest of Paul Biya for trespassing a foreign soil without due permission. Now, theoretically, this is the case but whether this is enforceable is another matter altogether. However, whatever light we look at the grim political confusion, this omen is bad for this visit. This may possibly explain why the man runs away from his own created troubles.

It is interesting to note here that the aim of the visit, in real sense, is not to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Cameroon’s independence. Paul Biya went further by stating clearly that his visit to Bamenda was to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Cameroon army. In any political and military adventurism, there exist great risks – to the civilian population and the army itself. The mere mention of the military; and that they are to parade within the confines of a disputed territory is tantamount to performing military games in that territory and consequently evokes war or intent to occupation. This is because there is no evidence to show that those deployed military men will leave the territory after the “celebrations”. The world cannot be fooled in this instance because recent events on the planet bear witness to disguised military manoeuvres, regime change and other pretexts to celebrations or good “wars” have resulted to occupation of a weakened and desperate people by foreign powers that have a sinister and wholly disreputable agenda to loot by terror, barbarism and mediaeval subjugation.

When the United States went to Iraq, the excuse was to dislodge Sadam Hussein who purportedly harboured Weapons of Mass Destruction – a shameless lie. Now, whether Sadam was an evil tyrant or not is not the point in this expose, but that his overthrow did not lead to an immediate evacuation of the US military but that they stayed over to occupy Iraq with disastrous consequences for America, the civilian population in Iraq and the world. If we apply a similar scenario to the envisaged occupation of Bamenda, it is of little telling what the results and outcome will look like. In addition, the Southern Cameroons is not yet 50 years old nor have they ever had an army. The logical conclusion is that Paul Biya, in his attempt at subjugation, has inadvertently shot himself with his own gun.

To add to Paul Biya’s visible frights, is the spectre of The Africa Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) ruling and recommendations (Communication 266/2003) on The Republic of Cameroon Vs the People of Southern Cameroons in July 2009. According to these recommendations which are freely available on the African Commission’s website, the two parties would, by this time of last year, have engaged in constitutive talks to resolve the constitutional matters in relation to the projected Cameroon that came into existence in 1961. While the Southern Cameroons side have clearly, and officially, indicated their willingness to be part of these talks and fruitful dialogue under the auspices of the African Commission, and hopefully, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations, the government of the Republic of Cameroon appears to have asked for more time to prepare for the talks. But as to the time of this writing this essay, it is unclear as to their commitment to the resolution of the crisis. The Cameroon Communication Chief, Tchiroma Bakary, has gone to the media proclaiming, arrogantly and intransigently, that The Republic of Cameroon will not dialogue with Southern Cameroonians because “they want to divide Cameroon”. Whether Mr. Bakary is serious in his pronouncements and exhortations or not is unclear. Yet, his bellicose utterances only go a long stretch to cast doubts on the sincerity and integrity of the Biya regime, and as a consequence throw a large dose of mistrust between the two parties.

The Southern Cameroons issue is not whether people wish to live separately or in a Union: because the two states were originally separate; and that The Republic of Cameroon has been found wanting by violating the common norms of the envisaged Union; and using subterfuge and brute force, political fiat and blatant discrimination to stampede on the rights of the people of Southern Cameroons. It is, by nature, normal for those whose rights have been violated and their territory colonised to stand up to say No! To be surprised by such actions is itself surprising because the inalienable rights of man can never change. The following is that unless the Republic of Cameroon engages in sincere dialogue with Southern Cameroons, President Paul Biya’s visit to Bamenda would and should be considered an act of aggression; and that Paul Biya and the Cameroon army would be fully responsible for any opprobrium that may emerge if he defies the international community and Southern Cameroons people to visit Bamenda without consent as prescribed by international law. The right thing to have done or to do by any reasonable and wise leader would have been to announce before the entire Cameroon people, his intentions to abide by international laws, notably the Banjul verdict of the ACHPR, and the United Nations plebiscite arrangement in 1961 that brought forth contemporary Cameroon.  Save this, his military visit to Bamenda is doomed to confusion – whether it happens now or later.





Living in the 21st Century (11): Valley High

Louis Egbe Mbua

As many a man climbs to the mountain top,

But few with grit and whit unabashed;

To some but destiny a stranglehold is placed

On them, locked and tightened non-stop:

All plausible options are only whole despair:

On to the seas do they wallow down,

To be swallowed up by the leviathans pretend;

Drowned by tears of sorrow, a thought

To climb onto the peak of the mountain top!



The path and ways to the precipice Mountain High

Are tortuous, rugged, stones, time-bitten.

By the hands of the age, life’s fountain

In deep springs from the mountain slope arising;

That waters the same life-giving plants:

Animal attractions in the new forest waltz gate,

Put on splash for creation’s view exquisite

Show for all creatures as the cycle around flies

With supplies forever last in Mountain High.


Awake! On the premier crow in Valley Low

From a sound of the first cock blasting

Through the chilling foggy air wispy blowing

Past the gentle swaying velvet leaves

As the man in swag and the chime in starts:

Briskly through the narrow rocky path

Winding, a twist, to veer, ploughing to transform

Grassy plains savannah and forest lush

To barren rocks, feeding gulls of Valley Low!


Ladies were out on this male Odyssey’s End!

Trudging in a crowd of the siblings’ Beaux

Climbing, scaling in flavour’s respite bloom

In numbers, counting only in twin,

In pairs they join, moving in their chosen roils.

Snacks they would receive at high vaults

Hanging in the sky roofed with clouds reeling,

Waiting for those with means to spend,

On to the mountain top to meet Odyssey’s End.

The Raging GCE Exam Debate (Part3): Denouement and Practicalities of the System

Cameroon Finance Minister, Essimi-Menye:boasted oil producing Ndian division of Cameroon does not need roads. Bad roads have affected educational performance, totally impoverished Ndian and almost irreversibly set back other social advancement in the oil and fish-rich division.

Louis Egbe Mbua

The recent outstanding performance of students in the Cameroon GCE as analysed in the Fako UK website is commendable. Standards have definitely improved. However, the writer firmly believes, amongst other factors, that one of the important aspects of education is that a student receives the qualification; and that the total number who pass should be reasonably large, thus reflecting the total population of a particular region where those institutions are located. On this line of thought therefore, one is surprised to note that the Manyu division of Cameroon, and one of the regions that is famed for producing some of the brightest minds in that country could only present 703 students to sit the A Levels in 2010 of which only 486 of them passed as portrayed in Table 4 in Fako UK News Centre . From population estimates of the NW and SW Regions of Cameroon (Southern Cameroons) obtained from Scribbles From the Den, one had the impression – possibly a disputable assumption -- that the Manyu division may be one of the most populated in the Anglophone region of Cameroon and so rendering the small number of A Level entry very disturbing. One is of the opinion that this social retrogression—if one were to consider the academic and personal achievement records of indigenes of this area --has a strong correlation with the area’s 50 year neglect by the present Cameroon government and the system of things.

A Potential New Bakassi Crisis – Deja Vue

The region is totally cut off from Cameroon since there are no communicable roads to the division for the almost 50 years of independence; and that the lone airstrip that used to be the main civilian hub into the enclave has been converted into an army base for oppressive political reasons. Hon Ayah Abine, an MP from Manyu in the Akwaya sub-division, an area that directly shares Cameroon’s western borders with Nigeria, recently sent an open letter to the present Prime Minister of The Republic of Cameroon, bitterly complaining about blatant discrimination and the starving of well deserved funds to improve schools and roads in his constituency. This is a criminal act by the government of The Republic of Cameroon. The people of the Akwaya region should challenge this shameless tyranny by questioning the continued paying of their taxes to Yaoundé; and to resist the rapacious instincts of a colonising huntress and her scrambling agents.

It is now common knowledge that the contemporary Cameroon government neglect schools in this area. Pupils attend schools without any discernible infrastructure in place; with the regime believing, misguidedly, that this responsibility would be shouldered by the indigenes themselves. Teachers shun the area due to its inaccessibility -- non-existent roads and poor working conditions; and that to reach Akwaya, one must first go through Nigeria, make an incomprehensibly circuitous U-Turn through thick, dark and dangerous equatorial forest through Nigeria and then into Cameroon. This is extremely disgraceful. Most poignant is that the elite of the Manyu division are busy fighting for positions in the present regime in Yaoundé while neglecting their own people. Those who are high up in the system continue to deceive the people while the decay takes hold. One would not be surprised, therefore, that a vast majority of children in the Akwaya region attend schools but in Nigeria. This may partially explain the small number of entrants in the GCE Exams in the Manyu division of Cameroon. And unless concrete steps are taken to revitalise these roads, we may face another Bakassi-styled problem in that part of Cameroon.

 The Ndian Social Predicament and Exclusion

A detailed observation of the results also brought the regions of Ndian and the Kupe-Muanenguba – where only 177 and 423 students respectively sat the A Levels -- into close examination. Again, a similar social and infrastructural problem exists in these areas. Ndian division is where the disputed Bakassi is located, and where a majority of petroleum is extracted by the Cameroon government. Yet no decent roads exist in this region. A recent nakedly insulting, inflammatory and provocative proclamation -- an open secret opinion of the regime—was uttered by design or gaffe by the Cameroon Minister of Finance, Mr Essimi-Menye, boasting on Cameroon National Television that Ndian division of Cameroon does not deserve roads, and that whether it is oil producing or not is a matter of profound irrelevance in this case. Discrimination and folly by the present system in Cameroon have deprived and continues to deprive young people from fulfilling their full potential. Professional teachers shun these areas since amenities for education and other facilities for general entertainment are virtually non-existent. Health care is almost certainly zero. Children suffer from diseases such as blindness and other infant ailments that had been eradicated in the last century in other parts of the world – majority of countries no longer suffer child blindness. Unsurprisingly, the elite of these regions are busy with empty individual political pursuits, boot-licking their political masters in Yaoundé so that they may fight over sour crumbs that fall from the table of greed-- refusing to stand up for their people; and to empower the children of the next generation with decent education. It is an anomaly to note that a region with so much to offer a nation would be going cap in hand to the world to appeal for charity so as to obviate an evidently precipitous and calamitous decline of their people. For it is not possible to attain a good education without proper roads, health care, teachers and social amenities as these drawbacks kill intellectual incentive and the motivation to move forward and reach higher heights as one may won; with a potentially lethal psychological defeatism creeping in when they compare their dire circumstances and unbearable conditions with their counterparts in other parts of the country with far less economic leverage.

The Educational Winners Against all Odds

The Bui, Ngoketunjia, and Boyo Division of the North West Region, and Lebialem of South West Region of English-Speaking Cameroon should be highly commended. Their excellent performance is a clear indicator that depravation alone cannot stop humans from striving to higher stations; and stay there and that one must wrestle with problem and achieve even in a state of institutionalised Apartheid and exclusion by a system so designed. Since the Southern Cameroons independence, on 1st October 1961 and the forming of the now destroyed Federation with the Republic of Cameroon, these regions have almost been cut off from Cameroon complete with impassable roads and other social exclusion – No manufacturing industry exists in the North West region of Cameroon despite its huge human and natural resources potential. However, it would seem that the presence of strong catholic missionary activities in health and education has more than offset the debilitating assault by the Yaoundé regime to starve them of developmental funds; a typical case being the Lake Nyos Disaster Aid fund that allegedly melted into thin air without the slightest trace. In addition, parents in these regions who are mostly small-holder farmers, invest heavily on their children’s education as a priority. Their kinsmen in the Diaspora, have been displaying, flexing considerable charitable, financial and material muscle to stem the and plug the holes in neglect of educational and health resources and facilities by the government. Congratulations, also, to Mezam of the NW region for putting up such a stunning performance.

An Eldorado in Stagnation and at Risk of Steep Decline with Mixed Results

The writer now makes a call on the GCE results of the Fako division of Anglophone Cameroon; and one of the most strategic hot points of Cameroon, abundant natural and human resources and where the Chariot of the Gods marry the Atlantic Ocean; and the seat of at least two Anglophone Universities. Although the performance at the A Levels is respectable, it does not reflect the social and infrastructural resources– even if minimal -- put at their disposal. Consequently, one can only attribute this below the par performance to poverty of the native population in particular and the entire inhabitants in general. While other areas of this discussion have their ancestral land to till and obtain income, vast tracts of the most fertile parts of this region are occupied by the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), a key company in Cameroon. Thus, the native population, who are traditional farmers from the beginning, have no viable places to till the soil as they have been pushed to the edges of these plantations and the slopes of the rocky mountain – a difficult area to farm with its stony soil and mountain farms. The government again does similar games playing: building schools without full infrastructure; and depending on the elite to do the rest. Well, this does not always work out if the population is impoverished due to occupation of their land. It is now left to those in the Diaspora to step up their humanitarian contribution  so as to obviate this potential downward slide or intellectual stagflation. On the other hand, the elite in the Diaspora should take up the responsibility, and start real hard and serious charitable contribution to this area – organising more worthy material and financial packages to,  at least hold back the academic decline.

The Cameroon Development Corporation( CDC) controlled by the Cameroon government has refused to pay land rents or any form of royalties to the indigenes while instigating a corrupt scheme to distribute land to be bought by government officials in a bare-faced violation of all known traditional, national and international laws; thus compounding the poverty in the area further. If the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) were subsidising local schools and population – providing scholarships to the deprived and underprivileged children with talent, this would be a positive point. But all they do is exploitation of the land without putting anything back to benefit the actual owners of the land -- the natives -- and resident inhabitants. In the days gone by, the 1960s, this corporation used to run schools, provide free medical care and other social facilities to the general public. This has all but disappeared .Consequently, one expects an examination performance that falls short of the full potential of the region; and unless these ills are addressed we will continue to see a fall in educational success rates in this region of Cameroon.

The Return and Successes of Francophone Cameroon

It is interesting to note that French-speaking Cameroonians are now sitting the Cameroon GCE Exams and performing excellently. Although one does not have actual figures to fully substantiate this assertion, it is true to note that the situation was not exactly the same twenty years ago. This should be commended; and was the original plan of the Cameroon Union. It is unfortunate that short-sighted French-speaking politicians attempted to destroy this qualification and thereby potentially depriving the future generation of young people to benefit from a decent education. If any politician attempts to destroy the GCE, I believe young people and their parents should resist them. Rather, they should lobby for government subsidies to schools that perform well on these qualifications and other internationally accepted certificates. They should also argue for more English-speaking schools and Universities to be established if this is what a sizeable portion of the population of the nation clamour for. This action, if put in place would deflate the pressure on scarce places in these institutions – mostly located in Southern Cameroons. In terms of education, it is only a blind nation that begins to inject poisonous politics into the system with the pretext of improving and empowering his people. The more choices young people –and even adults – have at their disposal, the more chances for self-improvement and hence advancement of that nation. Conversely, an inward-looking nation where people believe in prejudices and discriminatory policies in terms of learning only concretises the foundation for poverty and social retrogression in both the near and farthest futures. It is no use training top level lawyers, doctors, priests, engineers while there are no elite technicians, fashion designers, social workers, musicians and nurses; and that those who fall by the way side are left there for eternity. There has to be a mechanism within the system that lifts them up from the unproductive abyss to national pride and contribution as the reverse psychological effect is to spur their determination to succeed, to marshal their pride to participation in social, political and economic development.

To conclude, it is important to differentiate between Examination led success and an all-round educational triumph. The latter attainment manifests and is reflected in real life and after the process – a constant – while the former is observed and confined to a small location at the same time it occurs – an instance. While the stars of the GCE should be congratulated, it should be noted and we have to be reminded here that Exam results do not fully reflect educational attainment. Whether one is able to maintain that level after school is the true test of a sound education. Overall, this writer believes that there have been reasonable strides in the advancement of education in Cameroon and the UK. There is considerable room for advanced research in this area of education in Cameroon if we challenge the problem in an open debate and take resulting solutions on board.

Congratulations to parents, staff, students, administrators and leaders of the education sector in Cameroon and the UK; as well as all who have encouraged and inspired the writing of this three-part article.

Thanks to FECA-UK for allowing me access the Cameroon GCE data and statistics of June 2008-2010; and theirown monumental  and pioneering work on this important subject





Living in the 21st Century (10): Amidst The Fiery Mist

Louis Egbe Mbua

The day fell on September’s rains mild,

With the college open to those fresh students new

To mists of rare understanding and the array

Of wisdom brought from lofty heights,

Elders enlightened to instruct

Impacting and displaying firm discipline

So bitter like herbs to a child’s innocence

But a cure for ignorance of minds

Innocently whitened like a clear papyrus

The ancient scroll wrested from the Sea of Reeds

Harvested for knowledge, healing and baptism

With the Pillar of Fire! Brightens

The melancholic, frightful and darkened night

A scene not seen before where burns not the fire

But shows the way to the fearless,

And the children of courage who know the truth;

No guilt but thus tested, heated and moulded:

So malleably fine as to come

Out unscathed through the raging fire



September crawled into October and the rains

Ceased, so inviting the clear blue sky that curled

Around the backdrop of the sloping mountain,

The huge stone monument that as a shield acts

Against the mindless invaders persistent

In their marauding intent on destruction:

Unseen army on both sides of the tall wall

Flaming swords in hand, swords hewed from the raging

Mountain that spits out fires of wisdom that glows

Above to the heavens for the new recruits,

To see, to admire, wonder and understand

That power of light that from the top emanates.

Living in the 21st Century (9): Fashion Model

Louis Egbe Mbua


She is the one with the smooth hair silky

So created as to flow down as smoothly

As coated feathers of the plumed doe-eyed;

Black and sparkling as though in painted flocks

By the ambidextrous hand of the art skilled

In placed talents on the Sistine ceiling

Chapel of angels and heaven it shows.

Her temple is a pure workman’s sleight hand,

The colour of the face of pure worked bronze;

Her eyes the colour of the hair the same,

Round, perfect clear charms like a disc fitted

Into an Egyptian painting plastered

On the walls of the palace of Pharaoh,

Her nose like the sculptured end to follow

Pointing down as opposite to the end

Of the Empire State buildings glory blazed,

Her lips dripping with full nurtured honey;

And voices from the lips like an angel

Descending from heaven’s gift to all men,

The height of proportion has she in blend,

And the mystery of beauty of ratio emphasised

From head to toe, her beauty surpasses

All women on earth, in fashion famous

Waist as slim and bosom in magnitude

As though carved off the moulded human clay,

All as pleasing as was Rachel of old,

In form and manners nature exquisite

For beautiful women always return.

The Raging GCE Exam Debate (Part 2): Conscientious Intellect and UnConscious Elitism

Sasse College Students

From L'Effort Camerounais



Louis Egbe Mbua

 Most established educational institutions in Cameroon may not accept a child who may not be able to read and answer questions on very difficult literature; not having financially viable guardians and parents; and have no profound grounding in mathematical principles. Added to that, the child must be able to write comprehensively at a very high level. The writer understands that all institutions have the right to set their entry requirements, rules and regulations. However, if the main criteria for selection are limited to a small group of individuals who are sure to pass examinations at the high end, then it is obvious that the purported normal distribution and spread would not hold.

While the outstanding performance of teachers and administrators as well as the conscientious attributes of the students may be commendable, all outstanding results are to be expected. However, as discussed in Part one of this series, this provides a false picture of that particular society because there are those who may be as intelligent but  may have conditions of learning difficulties or are not financially sound in their respective backgrounds; and that those admitted already possess social and financial advantages over the entire age range in that society. This enhances the latter's resilience and unshakeable collective confidence and purpose; and that the added perceived independence of means and thought is followed by this collective purpose which will boost their academic performance far surpassing the normal level; and levels that do not conform to the much argued Bell Curve indications. Consequently, almost all  students who may sit the GCE Exams will not fall within the range of highest three percent of normal distribution spread but may reflect a different phenomenon completely outside these predictions. Therefor, the real test of a high achieving environment is when all children from all backgrounds- wealthy or poor -- are brought together, given the same opportunity complete with first class educational facilities in that institution or society.

Checks and Balances

The reasons advanced so far in explaining success and failure in the Anglo-Saxon system has been based entirely on conjecture. This debate has raged and continues to rage in England and other countries of similar educational standards. Here in the UK, letters are written in the National Press and strong opinions advanced in connection to this controversy by concerned citizens. In one of those letters, a 1960s GCE candidate posted questions on Mathematics and clasics of his time; lining them side by side with contemporary questions of similar A Level Exams of today. According to the concerned citizen, the A Level has now been “dumbed” down since the questions that were asked the young people of today were far "easier", in depth and intellectual challenge, than those his own time. While one was almost ceratinly bound to agree with him, going by the questions, it would seem that children appear to attend school earlier in this day and age than was the case in the past. Thus, it may be not be valid to compare the intellectual maturity of 20 year olds as compared to a 16 year old child sitting the same Exams; and that knowledge has advanced since the 1960s so much so that the present students are bound to have much more breadth – debatable in relation to depth -- than was previously carried by the GCE old school.

A similar comparison could be established in Cameroon. It seems that students attend school younger in the present generation; and that there is official evidence that the academic duration has been slashed from seven to six years at the primary school level; and consequently rendering those sitting the GCE younger. The problem now is whether the GCE has the same strength in depth and intellectual challenge as was expected of students 20 years ago. This is a matter of concern as students attain very high grades than is expected. Again,  in England this matter has been circumvented, if not obviated, by the introduction of a super  A* Grade in their corresponding GCSE, an equivalence of Cameroon O Levels; and the GCE A Level , the same counterpart qualifications in Cameroon. Others have gone further and introduced the International Baccalaureate, as well as what is called the IGSCE, a qualification of what experts consider as of equivalent intellectual strength as the old London GCE O Level; and which is supposedly being sat in Cameroon. It is not clear how quality control is being implemented in Cameroon. So, it is hard to reach a conclusion as to whether the Cameroon GCE has become easier than in the past two decades.

A genuine method of checking and validating the intellectual balance of the A Levels is to follow the progress of former candidates. In some schools in England, they track the performance of their students after their A Levels: which universities they went to; where they obtained work; and how they progressed 5-10 years after their A Levels. While academic qualifications are not the only factor that determines success in life, it is a strong indicator on the other hand, and arguably the most reliable pointer to their institutions’ success; and their method of teaching. There is one thing passing with very high grades based on Exams and another matter altogether if the same students were provided with an all-round intellectual armament to cope with the trials in the real world. The writer is not fully conversant with the methods used in Cameroon in terms of checks and balances at present; but my Old school in Sasse track their students after leaving the College and make adjustments in their teaching methods as appropriate to ensure that the qualifications as well as the all-round education they receive are authentic. Again, it is unclear whether the Cameroon authorities as a whole follow the students’ progress after leaving school so as to find out if the qualifications so bestowed meet the requirements they were intended to. The writer’s casual observation is that the Cameroon A Level is respected here in the UK; and that students who arrived the UK with their A Levels were capable, and able to compete internationally in British Universities. But that was two decades ago. How they fair now is a recipe for research. How they perform in Cameroon Universities is also open to scrutiny in today’s world.

It is now an open secret that major universities in the UK have been complaining about fallen the standards in relation to the students that are enrolled into their venerable institutions. Employers are in the same mould asking questions as to the quality of graduates. Who is responsible for this alleged fall of standards cannot be easily discerned. Some universities are now instituting compulsory Examinations for certain “hard” courses such as Medicine, Law, Engineering and Classics. In special cases, students with top level grades are denied – controversially -- entry into top universities on account of their “failure” to meet requirements in designed interviews and university entrance Exams. A significant number of these “unqualified” students decamp to top universities in the United States, China and Hong Kong where they excel in the disciplines they were denied places in the UK.

In Cameroon, there is the tradition of sitting entrance Exams into schools of the profession especially in Administration, Engineering and Medicine – what is usually referred to as Les Grandes Ecoles inthe French system. While this may be a fair way of selection, it is also prone to bribery and corruption. Citizens in Cameroon, especially from the English-Speaking region (Southern Cameroons), have been complaining of incompetence, corruption and other professional misconduct especially from graduates from Ecole Normale d’Administration et Magistrature (ENAM), the Higher Education institution for administration. As a result, it is difficult to assess as to whether this lapse in professional and academic standards is related to poor educational entry in A Level qualifications; or that the institution itself does not measure up to opprobrious international standards. Additionally,  the significant majority of the graduates of this institution do not venture abroad but try their hands in ready-made government jobs spoiled with facilities provided by the ordinary Cameroon tax payer. This is not to discount other very able Graduates who have gone on to prove their worth into the world.

Political  Qualifications

In 1983, the Cameroon government attempted to alter the character of the GCE qualification at both the O and A Levels. The executive text to be implemented was designed to destroy these qualifications so that the minority English-Speaking Cameroon would be dependent t on their Francophone counterparts for education as is all other aspects in daily life as in Cameroon today. It is still one of the most shameful periods in Cameroon history; that a group of people would want to jeopardise the future educational well-being of children for purely insidious political reasons. This, gladly, did not work due to stiff resistance from Anglophone students at Yaoundé, the lone University at the time, and parents of the English-speaking region. However, the clueless government was determined to get his way in other areas in this sphere. So, they attacked the Vocational qualifications of the English-Speaking region (Southern Cameroons), destroying the curriculum that was based on City & Guilds Examinations in London; began teaching in French and replaced these well-tested and authenticated qualifications with questionable French-styled qualifications that have no international standing or merit. The result has been an educational disaster on a grandiose scale. Student failure rates skyrocketed to the edges of the curvature and thousands of lives destroyed with the elite Francophone having a totally misguided of  notion of “Anglophones are not as intelligent as Francophones”. This kind of warped thinking and implementation of an educational system renders any kind of analysis on the performance of students during and after their education totally without meaning; and that failure or success rates in Exams are not solely dependent on intelligence but on other disgraceful man-made rules bent on discrimination, mind control and clear machinations.