Recruitment of 3000 Contract Teachers:

Anglophone Applicants Decry Bias, Marginalization

By Doh Bertrand in Yaounde

Some disgruntled primary school teachers whose names did not appear in the list of some 3000 primary school teachers recently recruited into the public service by the Ministry of Basic Education have taken to the streets in Yaoundé to protest what they qualify as bias procedure and non-respect of the recruitment criteria that was laid down by the Minister.

               

Minister explaining recruitment criteria to disgruntled applicants

Thee teachers on Monday 8 June 2020 stormed the Ministry with placards demanding justice and adjustment in the recruitment list but were chased away by security elements. The protest action was later taken to the Centre Regional Delegation of Basic Education where they made their plight heard to officials.

                They denounced irregularities that surrounded the said recruitment process and castigated the Minister, Prof. Laurent Serge Etoundi, for not respecting the seniority criteria he set in place prior to the exercise for candidates with older diplomas. They explained that most of those recruited are candidates with 2018 diplomas whereas those with 2010 certificates are left out.

                The recruitment involves some 3000 contract teachers who are to be absorbed into the public service and deployed to the ten regions ahead of the 2020/2021 academic year to solve the problem of shortage of teachers.

                Prof. Etoundi Ngoa had on Monday 5 May 2020 in a meeting with members of the Central Recruitment Commission organised to present the selection criteria, promised that the process would be fair and transparent with priority given to older candidates and those whose certificates were obtained much earlier.

                "We will give priority to those who have been trained for years and who have not been able to get a job,” he earlier promised.

                The recruitment done with support from the World Bank is aimed at correcting the shortage of teachers found in rural areas nationwide. Current pupil-teacher statistics in Cameroon puts a teacher to 51 pupils as opposed to the UNESCO ratio of one teacher for 40 pupils.