Press Hour of September 1st, 2024
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00:00Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another special edition of the
00:30Press Hour. And this time we are broadcasting live from Government Bilingual Primary School
00:38Bastos in Yaoundé. We welcome you to this special edition just about a week and a half
00:45to the reopening of 2024-2025 school year. Cameroon has understood the message made by
00:57one American artist, Rayleigh B. King, an American artist popularly known as B.B. King,
01:05in one of his popular declarations who said, education is the most powerful weapon you can use
01:13to change the world. And I'm telling you that Cameroon has understood this so well and has stepped
01:19up its policy of literacy in the country. And statutorily, the literacy rate in Cameroon is
01:27about 80 percent. And we have some officials of the Ministry of Basic Education, which is the
01:33foundation of education in the country, who think that the literacy rate gets up as high as 100 or
01:43more percent. And the explanation is that those who miss it at the basic level, they catch up
01:50when they go to other schools, they attend seminars and some other forms of education.
01:56That is what we're going to look at on today's edition of Press Hour, where we have a special
02:03edition on basic education. And we have invited those that matter in the program. The Secretary
02:12of State to the Minister of Basic Education, Dr. Asheri Kilo Fofo is right here to address some of
02:21these issues that we have on the eve of the 2024-2025 reopening of the school year. I'm
02:31going to welcome her specially to this special edition. It is our honor to have you on our
02:37program today. Thank you very much, Kilian. The pleasure is always mine to share what the Minister
02:44of Basic Education is doing with the Cameroonian public. Thank you. You're welcome. This is an
02:51exceptional honor for us. And I am accompanied here by two journalists, two journalists who
03:00have their place in international space, professional space, when you talk about
03:05journalism in Cameroon and around the world. Welcome Comfort Musa. Comfort Musa is not only
03:12a journalist, she is the coordinator of Sisters Speak 237. You're welcome to Press Hour, Comfort.
03:20Thank you, Kilian. It's an honor to be here on this very special edition of our program when
03:26you're discussing a topic that is very close to my heart. So I'm glad to be here. Yes, close to
03:31your heart. You take care of children. Because I work with children with disabilities and most of
03:37them are at the very base level. And so this is a topic that hits close to home. Oh, this is good.
03:44Good to know that. Meet Tewi Lambif. Tewi Lambif is an editorialist and on CRTV. He is also the
03:54technical advisor to the Director General of CRTV. You know Tewi Lambif, he is a no-nonsense journalist
04:03by all standards. Tewi, welcome to Press Hour. Thank you, Kilian. I don't know if I'm no-nonsense,
04:11but I just think I'm just a journalist. Yes, by your right. And we also would like to acknowledge
04:19the presence here in this special edition of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Basic
04:26Education, Mr. Oyono Adams Daniel, who is here with us. We want also to acknowledge the presence
04:35of the Inspector General of Services, Mr. Nanga Shahl, and Inspector General of Pedagogy, Professor
04:47Tem Majung, Justina Epose Ndika. They are all here with us. They are sitting right behind here to
04:56make sure that they give us the moral booster, they follow what we are discussing, and we just
05:02want to tell you that you're not going to miss any second of this very special and interesting
05:08program. And first things first, press review was done for us
05:13by Yoti Kale Lesonge, our lady on that beat. Yoti?
05:24Back-to-school preparations are gathering steam across the national territory with barely one
05:30week to go, and the newspapers are treating the ambience from different angles. The Guardian Post
05:36writes on the new student identification system with Minister Nlovalunga drumming for massive
05:42enlistment before the deadline, while the Herald Tribune mentions the Anti-Corruption Commission's
05:48corruption-free school year. Cameroon Tribune points out the fact that the new textbooks are
05:54still rare, and the horizon cues in with an assurance from the National Book Council. An
06:00article on the Lone Bilingual Daily streamlines the flip side of clandestine schools sprouting up
06:06ahead of the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Meantime, Cameroon bishops are warning school
06:12propagandists, affirming that schools must function on the Post newspaper. Before some
06:18print media organs proceed to uncover army pension fraud costing the state 3.1 billion
06:26annually, as seen on the horizon. The paper indicates that over 12,000 birth certificates
06:33are being used to embezzle funds, and the Guardian Post concurs that the fake birth
06:38certificates used to receive children allowances are linked to security officers. In the same vein,
06:44Echo Outlook informs readers that it is thanks to an investigation authorized by the Ministry
06:50of Finance that the child benefit and pension fraud in the military and police corps have been
06:55uncovered. Breaking news is keen on the conflict zone, reporting that after Bamenda, three more
07:02police officers have been shot dead in Boya, and the Post confirms. The Herald Tribune adds flesh
07:09to the story. The management of catastrophes equally went under the spyglass this week.
07:15Cameroon Tribune highlights the need to reinforce prevention, just as municipal updates captures
07:21floods in the far north region that have forced thousands to flee after the harsh dry season,
07:27whilst progress made on the Bamenda-Babadjou road is slotted on the horizon. This week as well,
07:34Prime Minister Joseph John Guthie launched the Mercy a Zombie Heart Foundation, a piece of
07:39information treated in detail under Reporter and other publications. In the face of the monkeypox
07:45virus, Cameroon Insider reminds the population that the mpox threat is real, underlining that
07:51Cameroon has joined the African coalition in Brazzaville. The sports column also gave readers
07:57much to digest, especially regarding the Cameroon versus Namibia Afghan qualifiers match. The median
08:05presents a dilemma, indicating that while the country's football governing body Fekafut says
08:11Gara, the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education says Yaoundé,
08:15a story that triggers the question of who has the final say.
08:50that is very highly reported, both print and audiovisual. It's a story of clandestine schools
08:57and of course it's timely because we are a week away from the reopening of the schools,
09:02but I will not dwell on that because that's the obvious reporting that you get in mainstream media.
09:08There is also questions as children prepare to go back to school, there are media organs
09:13that are specialized in development news that are asking what is new for children
09:18with disability, the children that are in the last mile populations at risk of being left behind
09:25and the newspapers that reported about this asked the question but they could not find the answers.
09:31So maybe on the program today we may have some answers for these children who risk being left
09:36behind as others go to school this academic year. Are we aware on that? Well I think she's made a point.
09:45It's true that education and back to school is being very topical in the news these days
09:52and what is of interest to me is the perennial problem of the state of unpreparedness of parents
10:00and I dare say other schools because it's like a routine. Every year there is the usual problems of
10:08not having enough means, not having enough financial resources to take care of the
10:12children's needs but it's as if the school year we know that it is starting just when we are a
10:19week or so before it. Thank you and we're going to call on our special guest the Secretary of State
10:26to the Minister of Basic Education Dr. Asheri Kilo. For some the topic they have chose for us to
10:35take as the tease on this program falls within discussion. Today you happen to as a ministry
10:44close down so many schools this time. Tell us why that happened. Briefly I know we're going to go
10:51deeper into that discussion in the course of the program. Thank you very much Mr. Killian.
10:58I would like to say that it has been a practice and especially seriously so in the last five years
11:07when the Minister, Professor Etundengwa took over the helm of the Ministry of Basic Education.
11:14Cameroonians are quite indisciplined when they choose to be. There are strict regulations as to
11:22how to get a school authorized and how to get a school created. All of them know about this
11:29but they still try to play games and involve our children in circumstances that we would not
11:35permit children to study in. We will not permit children to study in a house that was built to
11:43harbour a family. We cannot expect people to put pupils in a classroom where there is no air,
11:54where there are no blackboards, where you can listen to the other child or the other teacher
12:04talking in the next room, where the square meter that was given by the ministry has not
12:11been respected and what is worse, where there is no playground. We all know that the first measure
12:18of a child's learning is through play and so we insist that every school must have a playground.
12:26Therefore for different categories of schools we give them different dimension of square meters or
12:34surface area that they should get to build a school. We also say that for certain categories
12:40of schools, a school should not rise over four floors because it is dangerous for these children
12:47and even when we happen to have a school that is three floors, we make sure that the older children
12:52are on the top floor. Children in class five and six and then the class one and two are on the
12:58ground floor and we also make sure that there is a lot of protective measures, barriers for the
13:04children not to fall over. Some of the schools operate without authorization and we cannot allow
13:11that because that just creates chaos in the educational map of our country. So we insist on
13:20closing them down and we give them enough notice to close down so that these children can be reoriented
13:27to other schools that are around. It is true that especially the private education sector,
13:34schools have become a business but even when you do business there are rules and regulations that
13:40you follow. That is why we have insisted on closing down those schools. We put a list up well in
13:46advance so those who are involved know that they have to move the children to other schools and the
13:53children will still have the opportunity to go to school because it is the right of every child
13:58to be at school. Thank you very much, you did it at the right time to give as you say
14:03children, their parents to change the school to know that these are clandestine schools,
14:08these are illegal schools, that children should not start a school year in the middle
14:15of that school year. They find themselves wanting but now we're going to continue
14:21on that topic since we have started. Just to remind our viewers that this is a special edition
14:28of Press Hour and we are broadcasting live from government bilingual primary schools,
14:35primary school Bastos and Yande. Now on that same topic, how many schools we are told that
14:44the number that was closed this year is double the number that was closed last year and it will
14:49be double next year so long as they don't stick to the rules and regulations. Let me tell you
14:54something, I'll give you a simple example. The state insists that for you to be given an
15:02authorization to run a private school, a the land on which you want to run the school must be
15:09in your name or if it is not in your name we should have a decision that is notarized
15:17handing over the land to you. In this case a family squabble will not come in and shut down
15:24a school at the middle of the year. We have had those problems so many times. There are problems
15:33between couples. A husband will come and say oh this call yes we put money together but I'm divorced
15:41to this woman so I want the woman to put her hands off and the woman would say no I cannot because
15:47the authorization is in my name in the first place and we would honor the person in whose name
15:53the authorization is. I will ask you to go and solve your marital problems in court. Can we talk
15:59about numbers how many were closed last year about how many and how many this year? I would think that
16:04we closed over 90 schools last year and this year we might be closing over a hundred schools
16:15throughout the national territory but when we put the list out I beg to insist that if any
16:24proprietor can catch up before the beginning of the school year you would be given the clearance
16:31to run the school. Is it not getting too late for you you are talking about when you put the list
16:36up? The list is up and my staff is already in the field working. Okay yes now that is even sometimes
16:42where we have problems um we are going to talk about corruption but we are still talking about
16:48closing these schools yes um when you close these schools you closed last year you come and close
16:55the same school this year means that they did not obey the uh shutting down uh regulation of last
17:03year that gives room for people I must call because they are involved the division officers
17:10senior division officers inspectors under your ministry correct to get involved in corruption
17:17what are you doing to make sure that you don't close schools and open up vans valves of corruption
17:24I will tell you about a specific example that I handled yesterday without calling the name of the
17:29school this school was meant to be shut down last year because the year before the school was
17:38operating in a plank structure that had no roof that I would call a roof that was not floored
17:50in the way a classroom had to be floored and the size of the infrastructure did not meet the number
17:59of kids that ought to be in that school the way the school was built is not the kind of thing that
18:07any parent I don't know how parents send children to school without even seeing the school that
18:13these kids go to so we asked for that school to be closed but I got wind of the fact that the school
18:21was not closed I called the director of private education we talked about it she went to Douala
18:28met with the delegate met with the proprietress and told her that that school had to be shut down
18:34you know what she did tell us she shut it down in the one spot and moved it to another you know
18:39what a color boat building is this plank temporary structures and moved it to another area clandestinely
18:45and still was running it somebody reported me to me that she had put up notice and she
18:50started registering children in this new clandestine spot I called the delegate
18:56and I told the delegate that I want to get a report on Friday with pictures of seals that he
19:03has already gone and put yes indeed there are a lot of people involved in this it is a chain
19:12the deals are involved our inspectors are involved but nobody is spared you introduced here the
19:18inspector general for services that is his job and after I do this and I get the report from the
19:24delegate I'm going to make my own written report to the inspector general for services and he'll
19:30investigate some more and certainly that woman's authorization which she never even had because
19:37we hear it's a clandestine school will never be given to her secondly the position of the school
19:44we have we have rules no school should be closer than 1000 meters from the other because the
19:53population that warrants the creation of the school should be high enough to authorize
20:01the permit to open a school and since this is a business whether I would like it or not
20:08if two schools are 200 meters from each other it doesn't make any sense therefore we check that too
20:17and those are some of the things that we are looking out for to close down the school thank
20:21you for that follow-up that reassures us and I know it also reassures our viewers and the
20:28Cameroonian public this is a special edition I'm going to ask Tewi Lambief and come from Musa
20:38beginning with Tewi Lambief to come up with contributions and possibly ask you some questions
20:44as we say this is a special edition of press up yes and I understand as the
20:51the minister says it's a secretary of state says it's a very complicated issue
20:56and I was wondering instead of closing the schools is it not possible to put in place
21:03a constant a permanent follow-up mechanism that will monitor the situation and make sure
21:09that the school those schools do not open their doors in the first place before coming to close
21:14them because like they say prevention is better than cure is there nothing the ministry of basic
21:21education can do to to stop those schools from opening their doors in the first place before
21:27coming to close them authorized or not yes you heard Kilian talk about corruption it is not the
21:35ministry that is corrupt it is individuals that work with the ministry who are corrupt we do
21:42decisions here at the level of the ministry and send out that this school should not operate
21:47because we have referred to their file and never got an authorization in the first place
21:53the school owners themselves are frauds because they go into the quarters and they print out
22:00fraudulent documents with the signature of the minister carrying an authorization and when our
22:06inspectors go and these signatures are so close honestly if you're not a technician you would not
22:12know that these are fraudulent documents if you present that to the delegate you present that to
22:18the deal most of the time when the information gets back to the delegate he is one of the few
22:24who realizes that this document is not the signature of the minister you'll get a document
22:29that was signed by minister in 1992 that is how stupid the people who fraud are minister
22:39came to the ministry in 2019 and how did he sign a document in 1988 1996 19 when we see something
22:49like that we really just say this school has to be closed people will come parents in particular
22:56or what you want the children to do but quite frankly if we do not get drastic i started by
23:01saying that cameroonians are getting so indisciplined that you have to put your foot
23:06down to make sure that we get people to be orderly the children would not suffer there
23:13are lots and lots of schools everywhere that have valid valid valid authorization
23:21and what is wrong with putting the children in our government schools is it possible is it
23:26possible to make our education our schools to stop them from being businesses is it possible
23:33at the policy level to make sure that the schools as a public service yes utility should not be
23:40business because it as you rightly said yourself yes it's becoming a business you see it is a
23:46problem first of all when somebody applies to open a school that is their right to be able to
23:54open a school if they follow all what we ask them to do because there is a constant need
24:02it will be difficult to have enough schools to have the number of children that we have
24:07needing schools therefore we encourage even the private uh partners to be able to open schools
24:14even lay private to open schools the christian the denominational schools to open more schools
24:19but the thing is that you should stay within the dictates of the ministry now one of the things
24:26that we check is also the amount of school fees that they charge it is exorbitant that's a very
24:33important question and some of our viewers are asking whether you are doing something to check
24:41to control such exorbitant school fees especially from private schools we do try to moderate the
24:48school fees those who run the schools also would tell us how much they pay the teachers which
24:55realize is not encouraging and that is why all those teachers who teach in these private schools
25:04and who are not enrolled in the public service payroll wants to come back and be civil servants
25:11when we launch the exams to enroll teachers we have 55 000 candidates for 3 000 places
25:20and all these candidates are coming from these private schools who say that they are not well
25:26paid and of course government pays better however to come back directly to the question
25:32when we try to harmonize the school fees they will tell you oh you see our school is special
25:41this is what we've brought from america or europe to train the children the teaching aids are
25:47different the children are in a higher class and all of that we let go but we also know that
25:54if you are good enough to have this amount of money to run that kind of school you are not
25:59good enough to seek subventions every year thank you very much and i'm going yes let me let me ask
26:06tewi this question uh what do you have in mind when you um ask the minister secretary of state
26:16whether schools must be business oriented how will they survive if it's not business we want
26:25could be a contribution that we'll have to move this forward should it be business with a human
26:31face or what are you actually talking about what do you have in mind so that we can learn from
26:36that well there are there are people who run institutions and businesses not for profit
26:44they just do it for example this is comfort here who is doing something in that direction i don't
26:51know if she can say that she makes some profit from it to make some money from it it is actually
26:57people with established moral reputations and i think that is possible not only moral but financially
27:05yes how will you survive let us lay emphasis on the moral affairs because because that should be
27:09what the ministry of basic education should be doing it's not because i have money that i say
27:14i can open a school that i'm given the authorization to open i think there should be some investigation
27:20into the morality of the person people should be able to say that there are many things that
27:25people do for philanthropic reasons for non-profit reasons and those people exist
27:32but why is it that just because somebody has money has building has peace
27:38and he has everything it takes and they say open the school why don't we ask the question um who
27:45are you what were you doing before what is your interest in doing this can you state that you are
27:51not going to do you have another source of income is this just a hobby is this just an activity
27:56you're doing a service to the community yeah yes so those are the question they are but how many of
28:02those people are we going to have in our society they know that cameroon no we we are looking at
28:08if we are living in a country classified as money classified as a country with more poor people
28:18than rich people so how are we going to sustain that given the number of children that we have
28:26let me even help you answer the question okay there are government schools
28:32with well-trained teachers who go through continuous training
28:40quality good now if parents decide that they want to take their children and put in a school
28:47where they will be asked to pay a hundred and fifty thousand francs for children to be taught
28:52by teachers who are not as good and who are not as willing to teach because of the pay package
28:59if they pay a teacher 40 000 francs a month living in yaounde tell me what commitment that
29:06teacher would have in these private schools the honors is on the population to decide what you
29:12want to do of course we moderate in the sense that you cannot be given the authorization to
29:18open a school if a you do not have the educational background you have to be in education what people
29:27do is that they will tell you i have a first degree in this and with the first degree you have
29:35the mindset to be able to manage a school we let you because we know that our children are in need
29:43of schools it is up to the parent to decide where they want to take the child to but when we find
29:49out that even this proprietors of these schools are not following the regulations of the ministry
29:55we also most of the schools we are closing our private schools okay they are not government
30:00schools because government schools are on and we are stricter with our teachers than those who are
30:05thank you is there a criteria that lays emphasis on the moral background you cannot start checking
30:12people's moral do you say bring a non-conviction yeah for example you'll have a non-conviction
30:17but what does that say you are cameronian or for example somebody who um we this is very sensitive
30:24it is like joking with the lives as they say the future of a country when you allow anybody who
30:30wants to open a school it's like allowing anybody who wants to open the health center
30:36no i told you it's not like anybody who wants the responsibility of the government it is yes make
30:41sure yes that those who actually open schools should play emphasis on their interests on who
30:49they are where they are what they come from what is their objective most of these most of these
30:54people are retired teachers i would tell you with no uh criminal background whatsoever retired
31:02teachers who have done their duty services with the government some retired delegates some retired
31:10headmistresses and headmasters and of course we think that those are the best people to be able
31:16to run these schools but because it is business sir they go out there and they charge what they
31:21want to charge and it is your choice thank you very much we're going to uh bring in uh comfort
31:26musa to contribute to this uh particular topic and then we'll move on to another issue that we
31:33have today yes yeah my interest is uh interrogating the numbers of the schools that are being shut down
31:40when i hear a hundred schools my mind uh i'm thinking where are these schools found because
31:45they're shut down on basis of the lack of adequate infrastructure the buildings are not enough but
31:54for the most part i work in parts of cameroon where you see children studying under trees i
32:01have been to classrooms in this country where you have a hundred kids sitting on the floor
32:07public schools private schools you have kids and uh you have the whole school in one room so class
32:13one class two and their teachers you know three teachers in one in one room teaching three classes
32:18so are these schools also shut down because i'm wondering you're we're shutting down in
32:24towns but in the villages we may not even have structures to shut down because they don't exist
32:30okay okay let me let me go straight to that most of the schools that we shut down
32:36are clandestine schools granted you see on tv all the time and people tell you there are schools
32:43under the trees i insist that cameroonians are very indisciplined we have our colleagues and
32:49friends who are politicians when they want to become mayors or whatever politically they come
32:57and they clamor for a school that oh and they show you proof that my community has more than
33:04uh twenty thousand young people for instance and there is no school they trek five kilometers to
33:12go to school mr minister please we need to create a school there and we are ready we know that it
33:19wasn't in your government plan it wasn't in your budget but we as politicians and elites we are
33:25ready to build the school as soon as you give us the authorization with the statistics of the number
33:31children willing in this remote areas as you see the minister will say okay on condition
33:36that you can build because that is not in our program at this time politicians take it they
33:42go away they've become males they've become section presidents or whatever it is and that
33:49is not done somebody takes the authorization now and meets the delegate and say listen we will start
33:57somewhere for the parts that you see children under the tree sometimes it's just the weather
34:02condition those places get so hot i'm not saying that that's not a reason for building schools
34:09but the classrooms are there but sometimes they just go under the trees to aerate and work for
34:15some time under these places and for those schools that they show under the tree when we find out
34:22that it is not a bona fide government school no an authorized primary school they are private
34:30school they are shut down thank you we're going to look at another aspect of basic education
34:36correct um there are many questions people who are questioning the free character of basic
34:44education the official policy says that basic education is free but some parents are complaining
34:50that is not free can you talk to us about that basic education is free by the strategy document
35:00on education and of the basic sector in cameroon basic education is free to the extent that we
35:09even give free textbooks the readers the math books and the french textbooks are given free
35:17to the kids now there is the contribution that is done by the parent teachers association
35:26that is the only kind of free that is also authorized by the text this is understood better
35:36by the anglo-saxon part of cameroon because parents are happy to improve the standard
35:45of the school to make their children comfortable so they create a pta which is a parent teachers
35:53association this is managed by the parent teachers association the school administration itself has
36:00little or nothing to do with it when they have their association meeting they determine what
36:07they think they can improve in the school a school might have 800 children but only 12 toilets
36:15and the parents will say i think we should add four more toilets for the children and this will
36:21cost 1 million if there are 800 children maybe every parent will pay a thousand francs for
36:27instance or a thousand five hundred now the parent teachers association would construct the toilets
36:35and hand over to the school for the use of the pupils yes uh that that is some of us
36:41pass through and we know how useful that pta is yes in some schools that are just created
36:48they even before government steps in the community what you call what we call parent teacher
36:53association they are the one managing it and they manage it so well now the question we are asking
36:58is in government well-established government schools how do we avoid corruption given that
37:05it's a fertile ground for corruption the secondary education has made it possible for that to go
37:11through the bank the e kind of money is that is what is that what is happening in basic education
37:16basic education we don't pay fees so we don't go there okay pta arrangement is their pta arrangement
37:22and they have a whole association to deal with that and in the basic sector we have hardly
37:28had any of those problems because the head teacher supervises in a way what is if there is going to
37:36be an alarm he or she is first to see and call the president of the pta sit with your executive
37:44and sort this because this is what i am hearing our staff have no business with the pta contribution
37:53if they come to a school and see that there is no water point for instance instead of waiting
37:58for the government they can offer that to the school for the children and they've built water
38:04points some of them have done ball holes in schools for children which has nothing to do with
38:10the administration so their money is for them we don't need to ask them to go to the bank for that
38:17and i will tell you that with basic education we've hardly had problems with pts and syndicates
38:23thank you very much that's very good to know uh come from musa they will and beef are accompanying
38:29me here we are journalists and we have dr asheri kilo for whom who is the secretary of state to the
38:36minister of basic education facing the press a special edition of press are broadcasting live
38:44from government bilingual primary school bastos in yahoonda the next issue we are going to handle
38:51is what you have as the policy of inclusive education which you have so close to your heart
38:56as a minister of basic education i'm going to ask comfort musa who deals with children and this
39:01this is her area of specialty to how do what is your experience you are dealing with these children
39:08you give us and then if you have a question to ask to the minister you go ahead so my experience is
39:16inclusive education is now a buzzword and so every school even the one that is not inclusive
39:22brands itself as an inclusive school because it's good for business but what happens when you go to
39:28the schools um many schools think inclusion is a ramp so they build the ramp and that is it and
39:36i have been to schools where okay now especially in the remote areas the teachers say we're inclusive
39:42look on campus we have children with hearing impairments we have children with dyslexia we have
39:47children with visual impairments now they bring them into one room and i had a case where i was
39:53doing i was working on a report and i went to a class where they had six children with hearing
39:58impairments and you know when children have hearing and speech impairments at home they may
40:03learn their own sign language to communicate with their parents but then in school now you have a
40:09teacher with eight children or six children in a class and each of them has a different sign
40:14that their mothers you know used to communicate with them but that's not that aspect of inclusion
40:19because then this teacher doesn't know sign language no no inclusion uh kilian inclusion
40:24is not just saying bring children with different abilities and put in one class that's what many
40:30schools when they say inclusive education they bring all the children and put like this uh case
40:35and point but then the children come and they cannot learn because the teacher doesn't know
40:39sign language and there is no unified sign language so come from one child maybe this
40:43for another child it may be this how does the teacher teach them so um my experience is that
40:50there is a buzzword is fashionable people are bringing all these children with disabilities
40:55and different impairments into schools but not equipping the teachers and not providing enough
41:01resources to accommodate the different needs of the children and at the end of the day it's even
41:06worse for them so inclusion i think around cameroon now is bring the children with disabilities but
41:13then once they are in the school is learning adapted to all of them and even here in yaounde
41:19we have had cases of last year i had a parent who called and said call me you work in this
41:24in this uh sector i have a child and the child is not able to go to school personally we invested
41:30and we took the child around yaounde for more than two weeks and that child could not have
41:36admission into even the public schools because of uh the school says we are we are inclusive
41:41but then when the child come and they have many special needs the teachers will say we can't we
41:47can't handle this one so it's just inclusion beyond the policy to practice yes the policy
41:56the person who's involved with policy is here but before uh our special guest takes the microphone
42:04i'm still going to ask that's your area of specialty you've uh discovered that that's
42:09what's happening how what have you done after that knowing that this is so when i when i go
42:15to the field as a reporter my work is to shine a light on this is happening and provide all
42:22stakeholders with enough information to make informed choices i have worked in a community
42:29in oku where we saw a child with cataracts and the child got blind because the cataracts were
42:35not operated on time something that would have cost the family maybe 200,000 francs now the child
42:42is blind because some when it's too late and they operate the eye is uh is lazy and the child
42:47cannot see now they had to put the child in the rehabilitation center and it's even more expensive
42:53doing that report alone there are people from oku who said my god we didn't know this is happening
42:58and if it costs just 200 francs then maybe there is something we can do so as journalists for me i
43:04think my work is to shine a light in that respect but now as a social worker sometimes we would do
43:10educative programs we have uh trainings on inclusive practice and and you know so it depends
43:16on which cap i am wearing per time and if it's just shining a light even on press are today to
43:22say we need to interrogate when schools say they are inclusive what do they mean do they have the
43:27resources to accommodate these children because sometimes you scar the children they go to school
43:33they cannot learn they say we're never going back to school because there's no place for us
43:37let's get it from the most authoritative voice thank you um i would like to reiterate the fact
43:45that education is not the sole responsibility of the state education is a responsibility of
43:55parents the state and other stakeholders i am so elated that comfort you are in this field
44:04and you found out all of these things and i'm not sure you went to any of our cabinets to
44:10ask for audience to discuss this you certainly sat and as a journalist you'll be talking about it
44:18just talking about it sometimes is therapeutic but it doesn't move
44:23the the action but i would tell you and happily so too that in cameroon
44:30we have we had about 69 pilot inclusive schools government schools and when you say pilot this
44:40concept is just coming into cameroon and of course you pilot and see how it works and then you
44:47continue to spread out we noticed pedagogically that it was the wrongest thing to put children
44:55with special needs away in a special school they don't develop well they feel frustrated
45:03they feel unloved and from the homes that they come they feel rejected and dejected when parents
45:11themselves start rejecting their children how do you expect teachers who really don't know them
45:17and who like you say have not been initially trained to manage them in a regular classroom
45:24so what we are doing is that we have training every year sponsored by the world bank the inspector
45:31general for education can tell you that the director of primary education can tell you that
45:36we have training going on all the time because world global education today insists on that
45:45they pay they want us to pay more attention to these children than the other children
45:50because they know the psychological implication of a child who is like this struggling with other
45:57children you know how other children would even make a mockery of them forget about that the
46:02teacher is not even trained just the child having the courage to go to class and sit with other
46:09children sensitization from the parents is one thing and us journalists should be talking about
46:17this all the time and i've offered that i'm one of those who at any time you want me to come and
46:23talk to parents about loving and accepting their children who are different and make them go to
46:30school listen to this case of the cataract child who eventually might have gotten blind do you blame
46:37the school no the parents had this child at home and they saw this child struggling did they raise
46:43an alarm did they go to anybody to say what can we do about the situation of this child
46:48so parents too should be aware of the situation inclusive education like you rightly say is a
46:56whole gamut of ideas and things it is new in cameroon and we are following the steps and we
47:02have to catch up really fast yes one other thing that makes cameroonian fee very uncomfortable
47:09is the level of violence and drugs if you like drugs accompanied by violence in school
47:17we're going to call on tewi who has obligatorily because as a cameroonian we know this is
47:23very regular in schools to talk about this and if there's a question you ask the secretary of state
47:28yes um the issue of violence and drugs in our schools i think is so pertinent that it's it's
47:37the foundation of everything uh basic education is the foundation of the future and when certain
47:43things whether it be in violence or drug abuse starts at that level it becomes very very dangerous
47:48and i think it's a matter of collective responsibility the the government the schools
47:54are there they provide the teachers they provide the infrastructure they do what they can do um
48:00but some of these things do not only happen within the school media i think it's it starts from home
48:05thank you and and and everybody has a role to play thank you um it it becomes so preoccupying
48:13when some people behave behave as if when you hear that a little child of about 10 years in
48:19primary school uh stops stops another person it is not only in school that that has started
48:26it's something that started long ago and and the first thing we need to do is to sense for
48:32sensitization beginning with parents let the parents know that when they send their children
48:36to primary school or to nursery school it doesn't mean that they have abandoned their parenthood
48:41uh to the teachers secondly i think the teachers too uh must be empowered i don't know uh whether
48:48their curriculum for being trained as teachers takes into consideration certain aspects because
48:54it keeps changing the way children behave in the 60s and 70s and 80s and today not the way
49:02times have changed do you know why
49:06yes the advent of social media that's where i'm going to you you touch the nail on the head when
49:14you said this was shared responsibility parents have the honors to take care of their children
49:23emotionally psychologically and financially parents have to actually parent their children
49:31don't send these children off to school as if to discard of them if you do not search your
49:38children's bags at home before they go to school you can do it in in a jokey manner
49:45so that you are not surprised at some of the things that you find yet at school one of the
49:51things that we do in our primary schools is that occasionally we let the headmistresses and the
49:56teachers search the children's bags and if they find anything funny you are down for it and once
50:04they search and you hear that a child was a child's bag was searched and they found this or
50:09that or something that is not supposed to be in that bag then other children are already aware
50:15that they shouldn't do that from time to time our teachers talk to the children we have told
50:21them that sometimes short break is not just to go out and play you can engage in a casual
50:26conversation with your child if you see what these children are watching on television on facebook
50:32it is violence each scene somebody is slapping the other each scene a mother is abusing the
50:38father the father is slapping the mother a child is slapping the brother they take that
50:44that's how it starts you pick that up and you take that up to school and so we are ready to punish
50:51the child but in punishing the child we invite the parents to come to school and sometimes we
50:57can suspend the child for so long to go back home and have some home training yes so we search their
51:02bags we talk to them and we make sure that they don't come to school with telephones and things
51:08like yes uh comfort behavior is obviously learned especially for children in primary school
51:14away from phones and tv most of the schools have been described by humanitarian
51:20organizations as basic education is a sector in crisis given that there are many schools in
51:27crisis zones and these children see arms and they see blood and it becomes normal i just
51:33want to find out if the public primary schools in the areas of cameroon where you have
51:41conflict and armed crisis if there is psychosocial support for these children because they learn this
51:48this habit and bring is there psychosocial support for children in northwest southwest
51:52maybe east region and far north yes we have not instituted an official policy per se
51:59but in our delegations of education we have medical doctors and some of them have trained
52:08in child psychology so sometimes they go in there and they do something of therapy
52:14for these children and it is not something that you do in one day i'm telling you a child who
52:19watches a gunman shoot down their mother and father will take forever for this child to be
52:28normal again that's good and unfortunately we can talk about it and act as if we can do that
52:34the way it's supposed to be done but we don't have in cameroon what it takes to treat children
52:41of these kinds of psychological trauma what we can do and what we are doing is just talking to them
52:47and making them understand that that is not how the world is all over for some of the children who
52:52can move they have been moved to places that are safe but some of them who don't have anywhere to
52:57go are stuck in there they listen to these gunshots every day they listen to cries of
53:03people dying every day and i tell you it's traumatizing but the good thing
53:09is that despite all of this the results of our public exams from these places gives me
53:17a heartwarming experience tells me that it is not as bad as we imagine yes it could be worse
53:24but it is not as bad because their results are telling and they improve every year we don't have
53:29much time to go to the end of this program about four minutes we still had a number of very
53:37important issues to address digitalization which is one of the things that the ministry of basic
53:43education is carrying as a flagship policy issue we we have the motivation of teachers
53:52and we also have the world literacy day that will be celebrated in cameroon can you help us address
53:59these three issues in four very quickly yes yes we are celebrating world literacy day you said
54:04yourself that for children who did not have the opportunity to continue after primary school
54:09or who dropped out of primary school have the opportunity to do you know informal education
54:16in our literacy centers and we have literacy centers all over the country so there is no
54:22problem with that the director general of unesco is coming into the country to celebrate world
54:28literacy day on the ninth and tenth the day itself is the eighth but it falls on the weekend so we
54:35moved it so it falls on monday of september to tell you of september to tell you how important
54:40that is and it is celebrated regionally and internationally i am told that cameroon is the
54:46second country in africa to celebrate to host this international celebration in the capacity
54:54which is holding okay yes we look forward to that there are two other issues digitalization
54:58and motivation of teachers maybe you yes i want to drag into that yes and uh i am inviting all
55:04of you to attend this um conference because you'll see what it means by digitalization the world is
55:11moving the transformation of education is a must and cameroon will not stay behind we've moved from
55:18distance learning we've moved from e-learning we should be with ai now artificial intelligence
55:23and even at the level of basic i will be talking because i just came back from a conference in
55:28china where even children at four are being introduced to ai stem education science
55:37technology engineering and mathematics is where the world is going i did literature but today you
55:43can read literature on the internet you need to have your hands on deck with techniques i should
55:48be proud to say here that um our special guest taught me in the early 90s at the university
55:56of um one at a time i'm glad you're where you are thank you very much thank you it's my honor
56:04so i'm saying that yes the minister of basic education is moving and moving very fast with it
56:09we have a whole um department that takes care of it we have you know challenges we don't have
56:16that much internet we don't have electricity supply regular but we are looking at um
56:24solar systems and we're looking at other ways by which we can get our children we are bent on
56:29making sure that our primary school children not only stay with digital but they move to ai
56:34because that is where the world is and to motivate the teachers who have been doing very well in the
56:41ai and in the directors who have been doing very well the ministry applied for um awards for them
56:49and during our last consultation meeting you notice that the president of the republic himself
56:55offered medals to rewarding and worthwhile teachers and workers in the ministry of basic
57:01education and this is a kind of motivation that i think when our staff gets they are willing to put
57:08in all to make sure that basic education stands tall and remains the foundation of the kind of
57:15education and the kind of children that we want to raise in cameroon the challenges are many but
57:22i tell you between me and minister we are ready thank you very much we're very very very grateful
57:30that you came you've uh enlightened us here on the set and cameroonians our viewers who were
57:36watching you dr is the secretary of state to the minister of basic education we are also very
57:47grateful to tewi lambief who is an editor is in crtv thank you for coming on to put this special
57:54touch to this special program this is a special edition of press hour thank you very much comfort
58:00mursa who is journalist and coordinator of sisters speak 237 thank you very much for coming we want
58:07to also to thank the officials of the ministry of basic education ranging from the common person
58:15down there to the secretary general and thanks immensely to the minister himself professor
58:22laurence who made all of this possible ladies and gentlemen if you missed out on anything
58:29on this program today you will have a rebroadcast full broadcast on monday at 2 30 and you'll be
58:34happy to know what we discussed or on wednesday after the news in french in on crtv news that's
58:42at 9 00 p.m thanks very much we have had this special edition of press our broadcast live from
58:51government by primary bilingual primary school bastos in youndi thanks very much thank you very
58:59much the pleasure is mine okay thank you
59:29you