It has been a tortuous road towards school reopening in NW

   Apah Itor Johnson, Regional Delegate of Secondary Education

Apah Itor Johnson

You came into the Region when the English Educational Sub System was at a cross roads. 

I was installed as Regional Delegate of Secondary Education for the North West Region on the 23^rd of August 2017.  It has certainly been a tortuous road towards school reopening.  If things have improved up to this stage, I must thank all stakeholders for the present situation of things. At a certain point we realised that we were not supposed to have left everything in the hands of the teachers and the parents so we brought in the school administrators. We brought in everybody and that’s why we have not stopped concerted efforts with the parents and the students who are at the center of it all. This will involve confidence building because what happened is that confidence was completely destroyed and the parents and teachers developed mind sets which were different from what you expected them to be. We therefore have to do everything necessary to convince everyone concerned of the necessity to go to school. 

Your school principals are also assembled today in what is considered a very important meeting. What are the main issues being discussed?

From time to time we need to bring them together for rehearsals but this rendezvous is more than just rehearsals. I have been here for four months during which I have realised that they cannot operate in ignorance. We felt that it was necessary that we gave them some training. We realised that it had come to a stage where we don’t need trials and that principals really needed to know what they were doing. This workshop will build them up and make them work confidently. 

What has been done to make sure that schools reopen in the private sector?

We always involve all the sectors in meetings that we hold here. Every time that we come together we make sure that the private sector is present. We invite private education secretaries so that all decisions and actions that are carried out are enforced in both the public and private educational sectors. That is why I am always present every time incidents occur in the private sector. When there was a fire incident at the Sacred Heart College at Mankon in Bamenda I was there and when the same thing occurred at Presbyterian Secondary School Bafut, I was also there. The private sector has come to help the government whose responsibility is it to educate Cameroonians.

Interviewed By Ekongang Nzante Lenjo 

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