CI-NEWS

Timid back-to-school in NW & SW!

2019-09-06

No: 445

Timid back-to-school in NW & SW!

Donga-Mantung embraces open schools campaign

Gunshots heard in Bamenda Up-Station but Bamenda I DO braves it to launch academic year in selected schools; Meme SDO plays teacher!

The take-off of the 2019-2020 academic year in the restive Anglophone regions was unexpectedly timid, despite the multiple sensitization campaigns launched by government to ensure effective schools resumption.

Probably as a result of the weekly Monday ghosts towns declared by separatists in the North West and South West regions since the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis in 2016, very few teachers and children turned up for school in major towns .

Donga-Mantung Division stood out as the best candidate to respect the open schools campaign.

Reports say turnout in schools in Buea, Kumba, Mamfe, Ekondo-Titi and Tombel was quite poor. Gates remained closed on day one at BGS Molyko and GTHS Buea. Grass had overgrown the campuses of these two institutions found in the heart of the town.

In Kumba turnout was also timid. The case of CCAS Kumba stood out as particularly bad as no teacher or students showed up. Ntou’ ou Ndong Chamberlain, Meme SDO who supervised the schools resumption, threatened to apply disciplinary sanctions to absentee teachers. At GBPS Mambanda, it was parents who rose up early in the morning to cut grass on the campus for children to attend classes. Some 61 pupils answered present with only six teachers. The SDO was the main teacher in one of the classes.

Scanty turnouts were also recorded in some schools in Tombel, Ekondo Titi and Mamfe. In Small Ekombe where the army chased out Amba boys occupying the school premises, no school children turned up.

The case of the North West region was not different. Bui, Momo, Boyo, Ngoketunjia and large parts of Mezam Divisions observed ghost towns and so no school children turned out. Gunshots were reportedly heard at Bamenda Up-station early in the morning. This is said to have scared the population from going out. In spite of the insecurity,

Bamenda I DO, Gilbert Guibaii Baldena, braved it to some selected schools to launch the new school year.

Donga-Mantung stood out as a ray of hope for the back-to-school campaign. Nkwenti Simon Ndoh, SDO for the Division, who supervised the take-off, praised the people for disrespecting boycott calls by separatists. Turn-out at most public schools was quite high.

Reacting to the open schools campaign, an educationist, Dr Nick Ngwanyam, said the litmus test for security would be that the campaigners should go to Ground Zero without any armoured car and set the example by withdrawing their children from schools in Francophone areas and taking them to schools in Anglophone territory.

For his part, a parent , speaking on condition of anonymity, said he would like his children to go to school and acquire knowledge but he valued their lives more.

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Timid back-to-school in NW & SW!