Jocelyn Fotso Soh, Garoua, Cameroon, Bachelor of Science (Honours in Psychology), UNB Fredericton, wants to pursue a career in medicine. He volunteers in the Chalmer’s Regional Hospital day surgery unit, helping nurses and patients; and is a mentor with UNB’s Successful Transition to Employment Program where he helps students improve their employability skills.

According to Ms. Natasha Ashfield, Communications and Marketing Department at University of New Brunswick Canada, Jocelyn Fotso Soh from Garoua, Cameroon was one of 17 University of New Brunswick in Canada students to be inducted into the Sir Howard Douglas Society of Scholars.

The award recipients volunteer their time and talent in a number of ways, both locally and internationally, and are all dean’s list students.

Nominated by their faculties, the scholars must have completed two years of their bachelor’s degree program, achieved academic excellence and actively participated in co-curricular or extracurricular activities.

A dinner was held in their honour last night March 14, 2013.

Read more http://www.unb.ca/excellence/shd2013.html

We wish to express our thanks to Ms. Natasha Ashfield for the distribution of this news item

Left to right, back to front: Michael Stewart, Jennifer Petryshen, Jonah Tremblay, Lauren Somers, Jackson Wo, Carly Baxter, Joseph O’Kane, John Connell, Melissa Foster, Gillian Edwards, Jocelyn Soh, Monica MacDonald, Sarah Lyons, Meaghan Waugh, Ashley Savinov, Jessica Hanna. Missing from photo: Jakob Wildman-Sisk.

Cameroonian Student in University of New Brunswick Canada inducted into Sir Howard Douglas Scholar Society is a post from: News Cameroon-Today.com

700,000 certificates have been handed over to laureates of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 official examinations. The certificates which range from the Certificat d’Etudes Primaires, First School Leaving Certificate and the Teacher’s Grade I certificate were handed over today by the Minister of Basic Education Youssouf Hadidja Alim.

The delivery of the over 700,000 diplomas by the Minister of Basic Education Youssouf Hadidja Alim to young Cameroonians is coming after 24 years. The certificates include the said 600,000 certificates for the Francophone sub-system, 141,000 First School Leaving Certificates and over 28,000 Teacher Grade I Certificates. These are from the 2009 session to the 2011.

As to how authentic and secure these certificates are, the Deputy Managing Director of the printing company explains.

The security is about on the diploma itself and also by database where all the young people are inscribed. So it’s impossible to forge the diplomas with this security. We employed all the modern security for these diplomas so it is not possible today.

One of the laureates, Taka Aaron Anyam completed teacher training since 2009, he is overwhelmed with his diploma and compares it to a progress report card.

It is like I collected my report card today which is on my hand. So I’m actually very happy four years down memory lane that I have been teaching without a report card as I can say. So I’m more than the word happy.

The ceremony to deliver certificates after 24 years is proof of government’s resolve to maintain continuity for regular delivery of authentic and secure certificates at the end of every examination session by the regional delegations in the country.

One thousand seven hundred and sixteen graduates of the Advanced Teachers Training College (ENS) Yaoundé have just received their end of course certificates. The diploma awarding ceremony was chaired by the Minister of Higher Education Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo.

It all started with the singing of the national anthem by the members of the choir of the Higher Teachers Training College (ENS), quickly followed, a presentation of the 51st batch of graduating students by the director of the college Nicolas Gabriel Andjiga. It’s a special batch he says given that it came 50 years since the creation of the school and at a time when teaching methods were being modernized.

We have a world with more computer and then the teachers have to – they have to adapt their teaching methods to these new systems, new environment.

Then came a musical interlude, after which followed a reflection on the theme The Teacher Learner of History Objective and Stakes. This was done by the head of History Department Prof. Salvador Eyezo’o who pointed out that history, apart from being the learning of our past and present, also plays an important role in unifying people and providing them of an identity and a sense of direction.

And when the Minister of Higher Education Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo took the floor, the ovation was impressive.

He congratulated the teachers but reminded them that their skills were needed most in the remotest of areas where children of 13 and 14 are ever yearning for knowledge and would satisfy…

Very happy. It wasn’t easy. So hard work, as you can see I was at 7th position.

But anxious thoughts.

Two long years as trainer years and of course we need to rejoice over the…

There’s a bit of anxiety when it comes to what is ahead, where people are going to posted and a place is going to rural at time at a remote places as the Minister of Higher Education was saying.

The teachers and their families immortalized to what they called a lifetime achievement.

Cameroon education – school students of Cameroon government schools in their uniform

Cameroon Education: 700,000 Certificat d’Etudes Primaires, First School Leaving Certificate and the Teacher’s Grade I certificate handed over today by the Minister of Basic Education Youssouf Hadidja Alim is a post from: News Cameroon-Today.com

Graduating students of the Advanced Teacher Training College (ENS) have been told to have a heart for children by accepting to teach in the most enclaved areas of the county. The call was made by Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo as he chaired over the graduation ceremony of the 51st batch of trained teachers of the Higher Teachers Training College (ENS) Yaoundé.

The 51st batch of trained teachers from the National Higher Teachers Training College (ENS) Yaoundé had today received their end of course certificate from the Minister of Higher Education Jacques Fame Ndongo and other dignitaries. This was at the graduation ceremony at the Yaoundé Multi Sports Complex.

Addressing the about 1,700 trained teachers, Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo instructed them to go beyond the training they have received and exercise through devotion and professionalism on the field. The Minister of Higher Education told them not to be only seekers of matriculation numbers and pay slips but should be ready to serve the nation even in the most enclaved areas.

About 7,000 certificates have been handed over to laureates of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 official examinations. The certificates, which range from the Certificat d’Etudes Primaires, the First School Leaving Certificate and the Teacher’s Grade I Certificate were handed over today by the Minister of Basic Education Youssouf Hadidja Alim.

Graduating students of the Advanced Teacher Training College (ENS) have been told to have a heart for children by accepting to teach in the most enclaved areas of the county. The call was made by Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo of Higher Education as he chaired over the graduation ceremony of the 51st batch of trained teachers of the Higher Teachers Training College (ENS) Yaoundé.

Cameroon Ministry of Higher Education Building In Yaounde, Cameroon

Jacques Fame Ndongo: Have A Heart For Children By Accepting To Teach In The Most Enclaved Areas Of The Cameroon is a post from: News Cameroon-Today.com

Yaounde, Cameroon, Africa. (Cameroon News)  -   Stakeholders in the private basic education sector are getting acquainted with changes in the organogram of the Ministry of Basic Education, a new system of contracts with private schools and the issue of limited government subventions. They are meeting at the 7th National Commission on Private Basic Education that was opened today by Basic Education Minister Youssouf Hadidja Alim.

The 7th National Commission on Private Basic Education comes after a presidential decree in June 2012 making some changes to the organogram of the Ministry of Basic Education, which among other things delegates passed to decentralize services to reinforce pedagogic follow-up in schools.

The stakeholders in the private education sector are therefore getting acquainted with introductions like the equilibrium and performance-based contracts which seek to ensure improved access to and quality of education.

Meanwhile, long-standing issues like subventions to private schools compounded by inadequate or unqualified staff will also be on the discussion table.

The late Private Education Secretary for the Southwest Mbu Stephen Takang elaborates:

Most of the subventions that come hardly pay off to even two salaries and only about 30 percent of the schools have those subventions and it is not yearly. We wish that teachers who are trained in government institutions some of them could be seconded to us. What is happening now is that those who are not employed after training the private sector use them until they are eventually employed by the government. This is a tough situation. It’s not always certain.

In her opening address, the Minister of Basic Education Youssouf Hadidja Alim cited measures like upcoming refresher courses for teachers, the shutting down of some 826 clandestine schools this year as part of government’s action to ensure not just universal but quality education by 2015. She prescribed better management in schools.

The meeting rounds up with her expected recommendations this Thursday.

Cameroon’s Minister of Basic Education says the delegation of more past regional delegates, emphasis on equilibrium and performance-based contracts and upcoming refresher courses for teachers are all parts of government efforts to attain the millennium development goal of education for all by 2015. Minister Youssouf Hadidja Alim was speaking in Yaoundé today at the start of the 7th National Commission on Private Basic Education taking place at the Yaoundé Conference Center.

For two days private basic education stakeholders will be getting acquainted with the Ministry’s new administrative framework that reinforces pedagogic follow-up and a system of contracts that leaves emphasis on equal chances and performance. This also covers key issues such as subventions to schools and governance.

Proposals aimed at improving private education governance in Cameroon are being discussed at the 7th National Commission on Private Basic Education.

Cameroon education – school students of Cameroon government schools in their uniform

Youssouf Hadidja Alim Opens 7th National Commission on Private Basic Education is a post from: News Cameroon-Today.com

Yaounde, Cameroon, Africa. (Cameroon News) – Officials of the education sector are today celebrating the 10th edition of the National Day for Guidance Counselors.

On the occasion the Minister of Secondary Education Louis Bapes Bapes chaired an orientation event at the bilingual high school in Essos Yaoundé.
In the meantime, the Minister of Basic Education Youssouf Hadidja Alim also chaired a similar event for primary schools at the government’s primary school.

Today is the National Day for Guidance Counselors in Cameroon.
The event for the guidance counselor in school is organized on the second Friday of October every year.
As the officials celebrate this tenth addition in 2012 lets revisit the idea behind the day.

With the growing unemployment in the country nothing could be as important in the education sector as guiding the students to making good choices so as to come out as successful citizens.
Many young people who are jobless today would have been useful citizens had someone be it their teachers or parents identified and harmonized their innate talents based on the knowledge acquired in school.

Cameroon education – school students of Cameroon government schools in their uniform

The education officials thought about it and instituted a national day for orientation is a welcome idea, only we still regret that there is no harmony in the education sector where the government thinks that the primary school sector should be managed separately from the secondary school sector and then the university sector stands on its own.
For example while the Minister of Basic Education is going her way with the activities on orientation, the Minister of secondary education is going his own way.
On his part, the Minister of Higher Education stands apart.
This neat separation should not happen when we know that the three levels are linked as they build one person from the primary school to the secondary and then the higher education sector.
Worse, parents tend to force their children to take courses that please them and not courses that tie with the talents and knowledge of the children.
When we add the need for guidance counselors in schools to develop a higher sense of information on the socio-economic environment and for the school officials to make good use of those counselors then we really understand that a national day on guidance counselors is important.
Speaking on the occasion in one of the schools in Yaoundé the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Basic Education Benoit Ndong Soumhet said teachers, parents and guidance counselors should provide useful information to class 6 pupils and those of CEPE class in the francophone system so that they can have better choices in general and vocational training.
The Secretary of State for Basic Education Benoit Ndong Soumhet : how important is orientation to the pupils.?

Benoit Ndong Soumhet: When you have good information that you can make a good choice for your destiny and so in our society we choose toward more modernity. We need good information for the choice to do in our lives. This is very important for our pupils who are the leaders of tomorrow.

Cameroon Ministry of Higher Education Building In Yaounde, Cameroon

During this year’s edition of the National Day for Guidance Counselors, officials are awarding some 1,500 prizes to young girls across the country. Thirty girls have so far been selected from each division to receive the prizes.

10th edition of the National Day for Guidance Counselors – Cameroon Minister of Secondary Education Louis Bapes Bapes. is a post from: News Cameroon-Today.com

Yaounde, Cameroon, Africa. (Cameroon News)  -  The Ministry of Higher Education is carrying out a three-day orientation for lower and upper-sixth students as well as those of the premier and terminal classes in the Francophone system of education. Hundreds of stands have been visited by the students at the open day that is holding at Yaoundé Sports Complex.

The hundreds of students who are visiting the many stands erected by all state universities and institutions of higher learning in Cameroon are those who wish to be better informed about our future successful professional integration. Like this 16-year old, she has come to be oriented.

 I saw the language French, English, history. In life I want to be a medical doctor.

The guidance counselors from the Ministry of Higher Education are there to receive the students.

We oriented them on the subject of the nation especially those who just got the ordinary level.

Students are presented many opportunities for professional training in and out of the country.

We represent a lot of foreign university in Cameroon; the Canadian universities, United States universities. We give them information about registration, visa assistance.

The minister of higher education is organizing this first open day not only to present the different professional available courses with what different opportunities there are.

We have civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical. We have to train more engineers to work here. Technical skills are the one to promote on this open day.

The orientation days are coming after the campaign which began on September 10 on the campus of the various universities in Cameroon for guidance and orientation.

The orientations days will last for three days but students could still visit the guidance counselors at the sub-Department of Orientation at the Ministry of Higher Education.

Cameroon Ministry of Higher Education Building In Yaounde, Cameroon

Three Days orientations days By Sub-Department of Orientation at the Ministry of Higher Education is a post from: News Cameroon-Today.com

Yaounde, Cameroon, Africa. (Cameroon News)  -  Teacher training in secondary education in Cameroon is to witness a series of reforms designed to facilitate the integration of trainees into the private sector. Two documents to that effect are expected to be validated today in Yaoundé.

Opening ceremony took interest in the proposed reforms.

Secondary Education Minister Louis Bapes Bapes says his proposed reforms in the domain of teacher training in secondary education seek to facilitate the integration of graduates into the private sector.

Mr. Bapes Bapes was speaking today in Yaoundé as he opened a workshop to validate a draft decree relating to the status, organization and functioning of teacher training colleges and also the strategic plan for the development of teacher training in secondary education.

The proposed reforms take into consideration the legal framework, the socio-economic evolution of the country, the curricula, infrastructure and prospects for specialization.

The first document under examination is a draft decree relating to the status, organization and functioning of all the teacher training colleges that came under the supervisory authority of the Ministry of Secondary Education in December 2011.

The draft decree which will eventually supersede the Presidential Decree of June 1980 takes care of changes like reforms in enterprises, the training today of teachers who are not automatically recruited to the public service, the payment of fees where trainees were entitled to bursaries and the modification of the age limit for admission to such schools.

Once the decree will come into force there is going to be change in name from ENIS and ENID as we have today to ENSEC classical, bilingual or specialized comprising both general and technical education sections.

With respect for the strategic plan for the development of teacher training in secondary education, emphasis is led on the need to adopt teacher training to the socio-economic evolution of the country and to provide the schools with updated curricula, adequate infrastructure and equipment as well as well-trained staff.

Opening the one-day workshop to validate the two documents, the Minister of Secondary Education Louis Bapes Bapes said the proposed reforms are designed to ensure that graduates easily get integrated into the private sector.

Cameroon Secondary Education Minister Louis Bapes Bapes to Reform Teacher training in secondary education is a post from: News Cameroon-Today.com

Bamenda, Cameroon, Africa. (Cameroon News) - Secondary education stakeholders in the Northwest Region have been told to open up to dialogue in the move to make some reforms in the school curricula.

The appeal was made by the Inspector General of the Ministry of Secondary Education Mme. Mpoudi Ngolle Evelyne while chairing deliberations in a one-day forum in Bamenda today.

Dr. Mpoudi Ngolle Evelyne told secondary education prime movers in the Northwest Region to give room for curriculum education in the drive to meet global standard and make Cameroon an emerging nation by 2035.

In her opinion the teachers should match the school curriculum with time and space to resolve contemporary problems.

Dr. Mpoudi Ngolle Evelyne makes an explanation:

 It is a new attitude. We are advising the teachers to help with the children because now we hope the learner is the center of teaching.

The proposed curriculum reforms have been taken with a pinch of salt by some teacher trade unions. This is the reaction of the Interim National Executive Secretary General of the Cameroon Teacher’s Trade Union Mr. Atanga Bunai Christopher.

Atanga Bunai Christopher: The reforms that have been proposed by the ministry are short of taking into consideration the two subsystems of education in Cameroon. We see the reforms as an attempt to impose on the Anglophone subsystem the Francophone subsystem of education.

What is the way forward? We think that the Minister should suspend the reform so that we can get back to the drawing board, get the teachers in the classrooms who are going to implement these reforms involved in the reforms.

For the time being the debate is spinning around the demerging of biology, physics and chemistry into what is called sciences with lesser time allocation, the inclusion of ancient languages like Latin and Greek on the proposed curriculum, the sidelining of English literature among other critical issues.

Did you go through the anglosaxon curriculum in Cameroon? Do you think this changes will benefit the future students? Why are they doing this?

Share your thoughts below.

Cameroon education – school students of Cameroon government schools in their uniform

nspector General of the Ministry of Secondary Education Mme. Mpoudi Ngolle Evelyne Calls For Reforms In School Curricula is a post from: News Cameroon-Today.com

Douala, Cameroon, Africa. (Cameroon News) – A Nigerian University has been closed because of violent protests about the lynching of four students accused of stealing laptops and mobile phones.

A Nigerian university has been closed because of violent protest about the lynching of four students accused of stealing laptops and mobile phones.

A horrific video of the killings near Nigeria’s oil capital Port Harcourt was posted on the YouTube video-sharing website.

Students say the four were mistaken for thieves in the village of Aluu. University of Port Harcourt told students to go home after the demonstrations turned violent with houses, shops and cars burned.

Correspondents say anti-riot police and soldiers have been deployed to the campus which the authorities say will remain shut until normality returns.

A Nigerian University has been closed because of violent protests about the lynching of four students accused of stealing laptops and mobile phones.

 

University Of Port Harcourt Closed Due To Violent Protests. is a post from: News Cameroon-Today.com

Yaounde, Cameroon, Africa. (Cameroon News) – The Minister of Culture seeks ways of reviving the book industry and reading culture in Cameroon. A national forum to that effect is underway in Yaoundé.

Key actors in the book sector in Cameroon are suggesting that the introduction of libraries in schools, the setting up of books development council and the drafting of a national book policy are measures that can boost the book industry in Cameroon and enhance the culture of reading in the country.

The proposals have been made at a national reflection on the Cameroon book industry that opened in Yaoundé today grouping writers and publishers.

Cameroon’s Minister of Arts and Culture Ama Tutu Muna who is chairing the deliberations underscored the role books play in the development both of the person and the nation given the information they convey.

The reflections are taking place under the theme Reviving the Book Industry and Reading Culture in Cameroon.

The Minister of Culture says the book industry is fraught with irregularities that affect the production, distribution and storage of books nationwide.

Minister Ama Tutu Muna was speaking in Yaoundé today while launching a national forum of stakeholders of the book industry in Cameroon. The actors are working towards reviving the book industry as well as the reading culture in the country.

We spoke spoke to some stakeholders:

There were publishers, writers, authors and many others in the book production team that came to exchange the difficulties they encounter in the book industry, the Acting General Manager for Anucam.

The very first problem is the problem of finance. Publishing is capital intensive. The government does not support publishing at all. Banks too are not willing to give us loans. The second major problem is piracy. A greater number of our books are being pirated. This actually leaves us with huge stocks at the end of every year.

 The stakeholders proposed that for the book industry to be revived, libraries should be introduced in schools to promote the culture of reading. They also proposed the creation of professional associations to discuss problems affecting the book industry.

A writer told us:

Generally our literature, be it in textbooks or in fiction is not given the interpretation it deserves by the readers. They tend to read to pass exams instead of reading to cultivate themselves and cultivate a sense of sophistication. When I write and somebody is telling me how to write because I must write for the textbook, that indirectly infringing on my liberty to express myself. I feel so disturbed that many Cameroonians don’t like reading. Books have never been part of our culture. People rather drink a bottle of beer or eat to their fill rather than limit what they drink and eat in order to nourish the mind by reading.

The stakeholders also suggested that contests in reading and writing should be organized frequently in order to enable Cameroonians to read and write. They also said there should be mutual trust and confidence between publishers and authors.

Disclosing the difficulties that writers face linking it to the poor reading culture in Cameroon, one writer said:

We do not have the enabling environment to encourage publishers and writers. When you talk about lack of reading habits it’s also the lack of libraries.

The schools are supposed to be the ones encouraging reading habits so that when the children grow a family they take to that habit of reading.

When you can read then more people will begin to write and as more people write you find that publishers will be available to publish their works.

The two important things to enable us to promote the reading habits is put in in place the enabling environment which is a book policy and secondly the development of libraries in schools and also in the communities.

There has been a long-standing joke that Cameroonians generally do not read even if you wrote on a much loved bottle of beer. Is this statement a true reflection of people’s reading habits?

What Cameroonians are reading:

A random appraisal of the reading culture if at all one exists in Cameroon borders on the negative.

 Cameroonians don’t read. People draws and look at the TV but we don’t read.

Many people make use of the information they get from their dear fellows. They don’t get that information from documentation. They don’t do that.

I would say they read. If they were not reading there would not have a proliferation of newspapers everywhere.

Those who say they do read end up mentioning books that are related to their professions.

Because I raised a child I used to read  to ameliorate my lesson.

 I read books like Handbook of Electronics.

In the other general knowledge books I usually tie it to the daily news, a hobby or novels that fall in the category of classics.

The one I always go back to is Things Fall Apart because that actually depicts the true African society.

I used to read medical books, first aid, medical plants for my personal use.

The only thing I read on my line of work is things like newspapers. I’m not used to reading novels and none of that.

Remembering the title, author’s name or the timeframe within which they last read a book does not come easily.

 it was a book that talks about maternity methods.

 I was reading – I read a magazine yesterday.

Some attempted to explain why there is a poor reading culture and also proposed solutions.

I think that if we are going make every city libraries at schools 

Proposals which hopefully are workable and come up at the national consultation event for reviving the book sector and reading in Cameroon.

CAMEROON BUSINESS: NEW LEASING LAW FOR DOING BUSINESS IN CAMEROON AFRICA.

The Minister of Culture is seeking ways of reviving the book industry and reading culture in the country. A national forum to that effect is underway in Yaoundé.

Cameroon National Forum Of Reviving The Book Industry And Reading Culture In Cameroon is a post from: News Cameroon-Today.com