Yaounde P & T school:

Recruitment of new teachers blocked

A decision signed by former minister Jean-Pierre Biyiti bi Essam for proposals to be made ahead of the recruitment of teachers at the school has been modified by the sitting minister Libom Li Likeng. Even though the proposals have been made, the recruitment exercise keeps delaying for reasons no one can tell.

By Essan Ekoninyang in Yaounde

There is an impasse as far as the recruitment of 13 teachers at the Yaounde National Higher School of Post and Telecommunication (ENSPT) is concerned. Differences in choices and opinions amongst those who have been assigned to carry out this mission are tearing each other apart. The silence of the minister of Post and Telecommunication, Minette Libom Li Likeng, is in no way helping the situation.

                The last meeting that held in view of harmonizing the positions of dissenting voices on this issue dates back to Friday, 27 May 2016. Presided over by the director of the institution, Jean-Marie Dongo, the extraordinary council of teachers which aimed at sensitizing and convincing teachers on the basis and raison d’être of this recruitment exercise, ended in a fiasco.

                It should be noted that another such meeting called by the selfsame director of the school had held two days earlier, with the deputy director, Nanga Ayissi, opposing every step aimed at recruiting teachers.  Talking to the press on conditions of anonymity, a teacher of the institution said the recruitment in question was a plan undertaken by the director to chase away unqualified staffers.

                For his part, the deputy director explained: “…there are abnormalities in the treatment of the file…we have a mission, that of rebuilding ENSPT. We have to work together in this direction. The recruitment of teachers is not meant to dismiss whoever.”

                To better understand the intricacies of this matter, it is imperative to look at two decisions signed in 2015 by the former minister of P & T, Jean-Pierre Biyiti bi Essam. The decisions were meant for the creation, organization, and functioning of the committee in charge of proposing candidates for recruitment so as to reinforce the teaching staff of the institution. The said commission was headed by Guillaume Bwele, president of the council of studies of the school, and Jean-Marie Dongo as the secretary.

                The former minister’s second decision was a call for application for the recruitment of 13 teachers at the school. Nine posts are open for holders of telecommunications engineering and computer engineering certificates while four posts are open for holders of a P & T administration certificate.

                After many months of work, the Bwele Guillaume commission came up with a shortlist of 16 teachers out of 60 applicants.

                However, Biyiti bi’s successor, Libom Li Likeng, came up with a new decision aimed at re-examining the above-mentioned propositions for the selection of permanent teachers and the modification of the status of teachers of the school. But she maintained Bwele Guillaume and Dongo in their respective positions.

                What is surprising is that the work of the committee has still not been taken into consideration and this has left the applicants in total desperation. Until the minister intervenes and takes the required decision, the deadlock would continue to the disadvantage of the school as well as the applicants.