Cameroon GCE 2017: Proprietors of confessional schools make U-turn

The chairman of the Cameroon GCE Board has announced that the proprietors of confessional and Islamic schools are calling on their students to come and sit the GCE examinations at their respective centres.  

So far there has not been any independent confirmation from the proprietors.

Pr Peter Alange Abety made the announcement on Saturday after an in-camera council meeting of the board meant to examine the administrative and management accounts of the year 2016 as well as the degree of preparedness for the 2017 session the examinations.

“Were are very happy to inform the general public that schools run by Catholic, Protestant and Islamic denominations have assured us that they are preparing to call back their candidates, who will come back to their institutions and write their exams,” Pr Alange Abety disclosed.

The two-week postponement of the examinations as declared by the Ministry of Secondary Education is unchanged, said the Registrar of the GCE Board, Monono Ekema Humphrey. While the practical phase comes up on 15th May 2017, the written phase begins on 12th June 2017.

Certain changes will be observed on the individual timetables of the candidates. Afternoon papers will be taken at 1 p.m. instead of 2 p.m. due to what the board calls “security reasons”.

“Most afternoon papers will begin as from 1 p.m., no longer 2. This is for security reasons, and that exams should begin early enough in the afternoon and close quite early while it is yet day to give candidates time to go home and join their family early enough,” Mr Ekema disclosed.

Pr Peter Alange had earlier expressed concerns over the credibility of the 2017 GCE certificates should the strike continue. He was speaking in March 2017 during an extraordinary council session of the GCE Board.

In the meantime, the Minister of Secondary Education will make a tour of the two regions of Southern Cameroons to evaluate the state of affairs of the examinations organized by his ministry. Jean Ernest Masséna Ngalle Bibehe’s tour starts on 8th to end on 11th May 2017.

Schools have been very inactive in Southern Cameroons since the start of the Anglophone Struggle in November 2016.