Cameroon: CPDM militants trade fisticuffs over the promotion of untutored Anglophone students

Militants of the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM), traded fisticuffs over the fate of Anglophone pupils and students, who have not been to school since the escalation of the Anglophone Teachers’ strike.

The CPDM militants exchanged blows during a recent joint party section conference that was summoned to deliberate on the re-opening of schools for the 2017/2018 academic year.

Militants split into two warring factions when the question of whether the untutored children should be promoted to the next class or not. 

While one group supported that the pupils and students should be promoted, another group said the students should be repeat because they did not learn anything to warrant their promotion.

In the course of the argument, a bitter quarrel erupted that led to a few skirmishes before the party bigwigs could bring the situation under control.

At the end the party barons who convened the conference said the decision rest on the parents of the pupils and students.

A CPDM militant who is a teacher, said as a tutor, she would not allow any of her children to move to the new class.

“There is nothing wrong with having a child repeat a class,” she said.

Another parent enthused “when the powers-that-be called for schools resumption, some parents did not send their children back to school. Now that official examinations were written, there is no way children should repeat.”

The parents are now waiting to see what Government is going to do to resolve this problem.