As Aglophone teachers’ strike continues:

“There will be no late GCE Registration in GBS Molyko"

- Principal warns

By Boris Esono in Buea

Mrs Hannah NgotoEtondeMbua, Principal BGS Molyko

With the recent upheavals that has rocked the country and Buea in particular, the principal of Bilingual Grammar School, BGS Molyko, Mrs Hannah NgotoEtondeMbua, has called on students who wish to register for the 2017 GCE Examination to do so before the 20 December 2016 deadline elapses. Hannah Ngoto threatens that there will be no late GCE registration in BGS, notwithstanding the ongoing strike called by Anglophone Teachers’ trade unions.

                In an exclusive interview granted The Median on Friday December 16, 2016, Mrs Hannah NgotoEtondeMbua noted that though the registration deadline for the French Baccalaureate has been pushed forward from 2 December 2016 to 27 January 2017 that for the GCE has not been extended.

                She noted that the registration deadline for the Bac was extended even though about 90% of the Francophone students of BGS continued to attend classes and with the various teachers coming to school and carrying on with teaching.

                MrsEtondeMbua however regretted that the Anglophone section of the school has virtually gone dormant with barely less than 20% of students in attendance.

                “The few teachers who even come to school do so not to teach but to fill in their first term examination marks,” the principal observed.

                On the issue of a prospective low percentage score of students in the GCE, the principal called on the students to study at home and make good use of recommended textbooks. 

                It should be mentioned that GCE registration in BGS officially began on 16 November 2016. But the process has since been perturbed by the endless strike by teachers. Even registration for external students has been quite timid, MrsEtondeMbua noted, saying that other things being equal registration would have been over by this time.

                "The registration of external students stands at below 50%, while for internal students we have more than 60%," the BGS principal said, calling on students to endeavor to register before the set deadline elapses.

                She invited parents to send their children to school and not heed to calls by striking teachers.

                However, to some students this reporter spoke to, the ongoing Anglophone teachers’ strike is doing more harm than good to their studies and if care is not taken, the percentage pass at the GCE this year will be significantly low.

To Naomi Agati, a student of BGS Molyko, the situation is worse for her and many others because for a subject like Literature in English for instance that has 12 textbooks in the syllabus, barely less than three books have been studied completely.

                "How can students pass well when teachers are not in school and you have to study alone, studying topics in textbooks which have not been introduced in class," Naomi wondered.

                The ongoing boycott of classes by teachers has led to some students relaxing to the extent of not reading at all. Also, the strike action has led to disruption in certain plans some students had for next year.

                "It is really a problem for me, as my plans for next year might have been jeopardized,” Naomi Agati exclaimed

                It should be noted that the ongoing strike action by teachers is in its fourth week now with teachers calling on the government to respond positively to their various demands or they stay permanently at home. The teachers for example are calling on the government to transfer all Francophone teachers out of Anglophone schools.

                Meanwhile, government says it is doing all within its power to dialogue with the teachers and bring an end to the deadlock.