New School Year:

Uncertainty To Mar Back to School 

By Ticha Melanis in Limbe

Parents are not rushing to the bookshops as expected

 perhaps because of poverty and uncertainty

As the official date for schools resumptions approaches, it is with a lot of uncertainty that parents, students and booksellers prepare for the new academic year in Limbe. This is as a result of heightening insecurity in town, the poor results of the 2017/2018 GCE exams and complaints by booksellers about unavailability of prescribed textbooks.

            Since the onset of the Anglophone crisis and the call for school boycott by some individuals and groups, the joy and anxiety that comes with the start of a new academic year has disappeared. Many shops specialized in the sale of books and other didactic materials have either closed down or have switched to other businesses due to low sales and the fear of the unknown.

            That notwithstanding, government schools and some lay private schools still have hopes to reopen their doors come 3 September 2018 for the start of the new academic year. The Median gathered from some schools that registration of students is going on smoothly and parents and students have been coming to seek admission and to register for the new school year.

            Speaking in place of the Principal, the Vice Principal of Government High School Limbe, Mrs Angouala Doris said admission and registration in the institution has been ongoing for weeks and most of the classes are already full.

            Asked about the irregularities on the GCE results slips and the fate of the students concerned, Mrs. Angouala said that the situation was under control and that all complaints have been forwarded to the GCE board for verification and correction.

Parents in Confusion

            For their part, parents are in a state of confusion as they do not know whether to send their children to school or keep them back at home for the fear of the unknown. Some parents said they had adopted various strategies to make sure their children go to school or get education by other means.

            Grace Mbah, a mother of three primary school children, said she prefered to hire a private teacher to teach her kids at home than enroll them in school. She said her children were safe studying at home than in any institution where their safety would be at risk.

            Another mother, Florence Ndanji, said she prefers to send her children to schools that are close to her house or office so she can rush there and pick them up in case of an attack.

            Yet another parent said he preferred to send his children to learn a trade than go to school.

            "I prefer to send my children to a vocational training center or send them to learn a trade that will help them in future than paying school fees which might be wasted, said Patrick Itoe, who added that the poor results of this year’s GCE have vindicated him, especially as students with errors on their result slips are yet to know if they actually failed or passed the 2018 GCE.

            As for bookshop owners and book dealers, they recalled that the period of back to school in the yesteryears usually brought excitement, as it boosted their sales considerably. They however, observed that this year, like last years, they are yet to feel the back to school fever.

The plight of booksellers

            A bookseller in Limbe said he is not only angry at the fact that books are changed yearly but with the fact that some books which are said to be revised are still the same as the old ones. Examples of such books are Mastering Mathematics and Interaction Mathematics and Secondary Mathematics for Cameroon student's book 3/Presbook Mathematics. He said some books are of very low quality sighting "Geography for Competence 1&2" as an example.

            Another bookseller complained that some textbooks that are supposed to be on the booklist were not selected, citing ‘immortal seeds and Cameroon Anthology of Poultry’ which are textbooks used for GCE ordinary levels.

            These booksellers plead for the ministry of basic and secondary education to look into these complaints raised so that they will not go out of business.