Government
secures Pyrrhic victory!
Tens
of thousands overcame fear to sit GCE, Common Entrance and FSLC exams but
debate rages on credibility of certificates to be issued by the GCE Board now
having a battered image
The Cameroon government has scored an
important victory in organizing end-of-course exams in the North West and South
West regions, mired in crisis since November 2016. Tens of thousands of
candidates were able to overcome fear and sit the GCE and First School Leaving
Certificate exams last week, under the watchful eyes of the ministries of basic
and secondary education who went visiting to take the pulse of the exercise.
But this victory remains tainted by the
credibility test to be faced by successful candidates in the coming months.
Perhaps the biggest casualty in the battle is the GCE Board. The structure
which was obtained after a sustained fight by Anglophone parents and teachers
in 1993 has emerged badly bruised as it has now lost its independence to the
ministry of secondary education. It remains open to dispute if the results to
be released by the structure will stand muster.
What is more, proponents of a boycott of
the exams had argued that the certificates would not be validated by UNESCO,
but the resident representative of the body in Cameroon had ruled out any
interference by the UN ancillary organ in exams organized by member countries.
The bigger question is what happens to
pupils and students of classes in North West and South West schools not
concerned with end-of-course exams. Do they gain automatic promotion to the
next class? If that is decreed for public schools, will mission and private
schools noted for their rigour and discipline sacrifice performance on the
altar of mediocrity? There-in lies the dilemma of education stakeholders.
Culled from The Horizon Newspaper
edevnews.blogspot.com/+237696896001/+237678401408/+237669542467/ Email:edevnewspaper@gmail.com/francoeko@gmail.com
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