Briefs

By TichaBizel-Bi MaforacYaounde

African Medicine Day:

Tradi-practitioners determined to protect African medicine

 In what can be seen as a determined move to preserve and protect their trade, trade-practitioners in Cameroon have maintained that traditional medicine is not only relevant but is still indispensible for Africa and Africans. This is in response to government authorities who continue to discredit traditional medicine and its practitioners as not inopportune for society.

                During a press conference in Yaounde, the executive bureau of the National Federation of Practitioners of Natural and Traditional Medicine (Fenacam) seized the opportunity offered by the commemoration of the African Day of traditional medicine on 31st August 2016 to emphasize the importance of traditional medicine in Cameroon and Africa.

                “It is a vital part of our civilization; traditional medicine actually has its place in Africa and Africans cannot do without it; we have lived with it since the beginning of our civilization and we will continue using it to save lives,” remarked Hermann NyeckLiport, president of Fenacam, who noted that traditional medicine and modern medicine are not in competition but are mutually inclusive.

                For his part, the treasurer of Fenacam noted that traditional medicine handles many cases that modern medicine has not found solutions to.

                “You will rarely find a poor trade-practitioner; this is because they treat diseases such as fibroid, fertility problems in couples and above all they produce their drugs themselves while doctors prescribe what pharmacists have produced.

Back to school:

Parents frown at constant changing of text books

Parents of school going children in Cameroon are complaining that the government does not care about the difficulties they face sending their children to school. These parents say the policy whereby book lists are changed every other academic year, for the same class, and with different books prescribed for public and private schools, does not help their situation; if anything it only makes the preparation of children for back to school more costly.

                Parents say things were a lot easier for them in times past when the same booklists were maintained for several years running. This was because younger children could use the same textbooks that their elder siblings in higher classes had used. But that is not the case today.

For instance, Jane, a mother of 3, is disappointed that the books used by her elder son can not be used by his sibling. These books which she acquired for about 100.000 FCFA have become useless.

                Jane further laments that the situation is made more painful when she imagines that she has to buy new books even for her son who was asked to repeat the class.

                Textbooks now vary from one school to another and change as the years go by. For example last year the textbooks used for French, English and Mathematics were: Le RéseauFrançais, New Frontiers in English and Mastering Mathematics respectively. But this year these books have changed to: Apprenons le Français and Graded English for colleges. This leaves some parents confused whether to purchase the textbooks or not.

                A parent noted that that the constant change of textbooks is to satisfy book publishers and editors who keep lobbying the books committee to shortlist their books just so that they too can sell and make huge profits. We are told that at times some of these publishers propose huge sums as bribe to members of the booklist committee just so that their books are included in the booklists.

                For their part, teachers also note that this constant change of school books only makes their work difficult. This is because they too have to study and master the new books every other year before they can teach the students.