GCE: Physically challenged candidates to get extended time

Monono Ekema Humphrey, Registrar Cameroon GCE Board, talks about the 2015 examinations and plans for marking and invigilation.

Q: The written part of the Cameroon General Certificate of Education Examination Board (CGCEB) which kicked off with practicals on May 5, 2015 is imminent. Are there any innovations envisaged this year?

A: The Baccalaureat Technique component of our examinations began on May 21 2015. The written phase of the GCE examination actually begins June 1. The practicals started May 5. There are many innovations and we are very ready for examinations this year.

Firstly, Advanced Level English language will be introduced this year as well as the Bilingual French that is written by candidates of the Special French subject introduced last year.

Many other new subjects will be tested next year. The eight examinations of the Board include general, commercial and technical education subjects; but also Baccalaureat Technique in English.

Concerning innovations, we have improved on security with some new arrangements for the physically-challenged candidates. Since 2013, we have had regulations governing candidates with impairments. This time, we have given them additional writing time because of their challenges.

We have arranged for invigilators who can sort out questions using sign language for deaf and dumb candidates, but such experts will not be used in schools where they teach. The number of impaired candidates this year are 30 in number. We have 11 for the GCE Advanced Level and 19 for the Ordinary Level.

There are three centres for them in Kumbo and Bamenda in the North West Region and Buea in the South West Region. For the entire examination, we have more than 1,200 accommodation centres, which are different from registration centres.

Registering in a centre does not automatically mean the candidate is going to write there. Examinations are written in allocated accommodation centres. Some centres may register, but may not have the facilities to accommodate masses at their centres. It may also be too expensive when you have 8 to 20 candidates for the written examination and the GCE Board has to pay people to invigilate them.

That is why the registration centres are more than the accommodation centres. There is also a difference between accommodation and practical centres.

Many schools probably will not have their candidates examined for Computer Sciences because of insufficient laboratories. So, they will have to move to another area where they have enough facilities to accommodate them.

There are also centres that do not carry out practicals in subjects like Geology. Many schools do not have laboratories for it, though they teach the subject.

Thus this year, we are testing 180,236 candidates for the eight examinations that we conduct. The number is up from 164,000 candidates last year, giving a relative increase of 9.4 per cent. This is as a result of the growing population and the increase in the number of schools.

The GCE Board each year organises examinations for the GCE Ordinary Level General Education, GCE Advanced Level General Education, GCE Ordinary Level Commercial and Industrial, GCE Advanced Level Commercial and Industrial, ‘Baccalaureat Technique’ in English, ‘Brevet de Technicien’ in English, ‘Probatoire Technique’ in English, and ‘Probatoire de Brevet de Technicien’ in English.

Q: How many invigilators have you recruited for all these examinations?

A: Approximately 6,000 invigilators, but this will not be sufficient since some subjects have One Multiple Choice Questions, MCQs, which require an invigilator for 15 candidates.

For the written part, we will use 6,000 invigilators, but with the practical part which is Paper One, we need more than 2,000 invigilators. So in total, we have recruited almost 9,000 invigilators.

Q: How much does the GCE Board need to organise all these examinations in a year?

A: It is quite an enticing issue because it is he who wears the shoe who knows where it pinches. Financing examinations has not been properly stated by both the Board and the Supervising Ministries of Finance and Secondary Education.

The cost of testing a student, by our research, is about FCFA 35,000 to run the examination to the end. But if you look at the situation at hand, candidates pay FCFA 17,000 on average, which is not enough to run the examination.

Nevertheless, some subventions come from the State, though stagnant. Thus, we fall short of the FCFA 17,000 that we expect the government to pay to cover up for about FCFA 30,000 to finance examinations per candidate.

Government and parents should jointly finance education. It should be noted that student contribution is less than 50 percent of what is needed to run certificate examinations. We hope and pray that the amount of subventions will not remain the same like in past years because this renders work very difficult.

Q: Does this explain why every year there is a problem paying examiners?

A: Not every year, that was just last year. Actually, this is not the problem; the problem is how to pay for intellectual services adequately.

We hardly pay sufficiently when teachers come for examination moderation, review of syllabus and proof-read or set the questions. The examiners are paid, but paying for intellectual knowledge in Cameroon is unlike in Finland and other countries.

Q: Some sources claim that the GCE syllabus is discrepant from the school curricula?

A: The GCE syllabus is a testing syllabus while the teaching syllabus is used for formative purposes in classrooms and also promotion examinations. But GCE certificate examinations have to meet certain criteria and international norms.

Q: What relationship exists between the GCE Board and ‘Office du Baccalauréat’?

A: They are like Siamese twins. They were delivered in the same way, fathered by the same Ministry of Secondary Education and also financed by the same Ministry of Finance. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. When we talk of evaluation or examinations in Cameroon, we are not only talking about GCE, but all the examinations in the Department of Secondary Education.

Q: Why is it impossible to re-sit GCE examination the same year?

A: It is not about the impossibility, but rather a system issue. We need to get approval from the GCE Board Council and the Ministry of Secondary Education.

Also, the candidates need to get admission, else we will be setting examinations that have no value. We are ready to test candidates anytime, but this may end up disrupting school programmes since their facilities are used as examination centres.