-Professor
Ngam Confidence
Professor Ngam Confidence is an Associate
Professor of History precisely Political and Diplomatic History of
International Relations. Vice Dean of Admissions and Records in the Faculty of
Law and Political Science and a Researcher into issues of Politics and
Diplomacy in Crime wave. This Educational guru is Cameroonian trained and was trained
in the University of Yaounde 1. He amongst other thorny issues has declared that
the Political Elite with the help of the gun and Finances has pushed the Cameroonian
Academician into becoming a beggar.
He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante.
There
was a time when Higher Education in Cameroon was completely void of
professional orientation. What do you think has contributed to this rapid
transformation?
.................
The
Cameroon Higher Education is not an independent isolate. It is transforming
with the global dynamics of transformation of Education in the Tertiary Sector.
To put it in the right perspective we must look at the personal ambitions of
the Ministry of Higher Education and we must look at the global change in
Educational Expectations and perspectives. We must look at the failures of the
kind of education that was promoted after the colonial era. I think the change
comes from a totality of things coming from Cameroon's Ministry of Higher
Education to move with changing times especially within the programme of the
BMP that is the Bachelor, the Masters and the PhD. There was the need to retailor the curriculum
to suit the global dynamics in the digital migration trends. There was also the
need to professionalise Education to be able to make those graduating from
Cameroonian Universities not only to be job seekers but to also be employers. Generally
to fit them within the mould of global dynamics and to make them also
marketable out of Cameroon.
.................
Do you think the Ministry of Higher Education is still doing something that should not be done?
...................
I
prefer to look at what the Ministry is not doing. I think there is a lack of
follow up of the effective implementation of the BMP Programme. The follow up
of the outcome of the reorientation of the curriculum. There is no check system
in the field to see if the implementation is actually going on. Most of the
time when you get only the official report there is the possibility that the
officials give you only what they think so I think the Ministry of Higher
Education should be able to put in place a follow-up Programme. They are
presently doing their best in the digitalisation but I think they have to do
more by practically being in the field.
...............
What
do you think should be the orientation of Educational stakeholders in the
Private Higher Educational Sector to make our products more competitive in the
international job market?
......................
I
must confess that the Private Higher Educational Sector in Cameroon runs very
delicate Programmes. Despite the
problems that we have in Cameroon education is very cheap. They have enormous
packages that can stand as excellent world passports. The problem is the
ability to be able to get the manpower to deliver the goods and getting exposed
to areas where students will receive professional training. I think the first
thing with the private sector is linking up with the world market out of their
zone of interest. The second could be the issue of getting qualified manpower.
I think the private sector has to fight for subventions and the state needs to
know that it is in its interest to protect the private sector. I am a product
of the private sector. I have taught in the National Polytechnic University
Institute Bamenda. I have taught in the Catholic University of Cameroon. Unlike
elsewhere where the Private Sector competes neatly with the public sector, I
think the Private Sector in Cameroon needs to get that level of parity.
Professor
Bernard Fonlon once wrote a paper that has been constantly referred to. The
Genuine Intellectual meaning that he shifted attention to the person to
whom you have to transmit knowledge. The Cameroon Higher Education Sector
should have a curriculum that also pays attention to the moral transformation
of the person being trained. When we came to CATUC as teachers, there was a
course we were being taught which focused on the human person and the moral transformation
that is required. May I daresay the Cameroon Educational System is producing a
lot of intellectuals who are lacking in
the morals to be able to do the mind transformation and therefore that holistic
transformation is not there. There is no description of how a higher education
guru should be. Elsewhere in some western Universities where I have had the
opportunity to visit there is this transcription on how the person should carry
himself and how he should run the affairs of his life and how you had to qualify
not only in terms of status but also in terms of doctrine so I think that’s
what the Educational Sector in Cameroon is supposed to do.
Recently
I presented a paper during the matriculation ceremony at EXHIST University in
Bamenda. I think that paper was inspired by the challenges our University students
are facing at the moment. It was centered on creating hope in a situation of
complete hopelessness. Trying to say that there is a place for every individual
who seeks for distinction even in the hopelessness. May I say that I met a
woman in the USA who had a qualification with a distinction and who had applied
for work in 47 schools. Only one of these schools was prepared to take her and
it took her seven months. This was a white American. So the youths should know
that America is not just a land of honey. It is a land for those who
distinguish themselves. It is a land for those who are morally upright and
hopeful. In Cameroon the old are usurping the opportunities. The old are not
giving way to the young. But I think there is still a chance for tomorrow.
We
understand that you lecture Diplomatic History at the University of Bamenda.
.............
Yes.
History is a domain that has seriously been invaded by charlatans. Now
Mathematicians, Lawyers and people in other domains of the Abstract Sciences
now speak with authority in the domain of history. History is a science with
its values. The kind of history I teach and practice is situated within the
focus that history can never be corrected. History is meant to inform you of
your past so that you can better your present for the benefit of the future.
There is no way you can correct the fact that Britain colonised America. There
is no way that you can correct the fact that you were born out of wedlock if
you were born out of wedlock. You must not use your past as a trap. Use it as a
Springboard. Know your past to know what you can do now. Cameroon as a nation
has a past and that past occurred within the circumstances of that time. If we
accept that the USA had independence in 1776 then we should also accept the
fact that Cameroon had independence in 1960. I am of the Critical School and
not of the Complacent School. I am not also of the Lost Generation. There is
hope in the horizon for those who try to make the environment better.
................
How
do you stomach the fact that certain people in the circles of the Political
Elite twist historical facts for purely political reasons?
.................
I
cannot really jump into Mathematics and begin to give formulas neither can I
jump into a Law Chamber and begin to talk Law. Political Elite should be humble
enough to submit themselves to history not from the logic of interpretation, wishful
thinking and the boldness of imagination. So history is the way you tell it and
there are professional historians. Even as Professional Historians you watch
and record events from your own perspective. It is difficult to find a
Historian who can be able to stay out of this bracket and begin to see
historical events and report them as they are. We are in the Social Media
Euphoria where everyone can seek to represent historians. The Political Elite
should give history a chance. For except you know your past then can you master
your present and better shape the future. The past has to be appreciated within
its context. The fact that you were born out of wedlock is the circumstance of
that moment and you can’t kill your parents about it.
...............
As a
Discipline, how is History implanted in Cameroon Universities?
...............
When
you are in Sciences you carve out your locus of studies. With the present trend
of things I am getting into criminology and that’s what is called the extending
frontiers of history. Otherwise Diplomacy should be allowed to be a Discipline
just like International Relations and Political Science. This carving out gets
into the realms of what we call Interdisciplinarity. This is informed by
Sociology and Anthropology and the other sectors of knowledge to be able to see
how historians can appreciate Diplomacy, the sciences of relationships either
institutionally or internationally. The University of Bamenda is presently
reforming it’s own curriculum to include History Heritage and Strategic
Studies. With Political History, Diplomacy, International Growth, Gender Dichotomy
and even including Criminology. This will prevent History from being presented
to students as a straight jacket where you only study the facts of the past and
allow them there.
................
What place
do Academicians occupy in Cameroonian Society?
.................
The weapon
of a faculty is its pen. In Cameroon there is a dichotomy between the Science that
is produced and the Science that is used. The Political Elite with the gun and the
financial resources have reduced the academicians to a level where they can go around
and beg. Academics in Cameroon beg for Upliftment and for Survival. That’s an African
problem. A problem about Corona Virus can be decided in the office of someone
who is not an expert. What is going on in Cameroon is that though conferences constantly
take place, the proceedings at these conferences are not gazetted for eventual use.
The Ministry of Scientific Research and the Ministry of Higher Education most of
the time are worlds apart. The Research that we do are supposed to be galvanized
and given to the Ministry of Scientific Research. Research that is carried out is
supposed to be used for the common good. There is supposed to be a National Research
Policy. The results of this research should result into certain changes in governance
and affect decisions touching on certain key issues like management and even on
Cameroon Diplomacy. Unfortunately this is not the case and so the Political
Elite continue in their glamour. This has resulted into brain drain. They are forced
to go where their brains are needed.
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