The Governor of the Northwest Region, Adolf Lele L’Afrique, has called on teachers to hail the Head of State for the fact that the Regional Delegate of Basic Education has been decorated with the Medal of Knight Of The Order Of Valour.
Governor Lele made the announcement while presiding over the Sector Conference of officials of the Basic Education Family of the Northwest Region that held at the congress Hall in Bamenda on August 27, under the theme: Improving Teachers Pedagogic Performance for Better School Results. He called on the teachers to work relentlessly in order to achieve their goals.
“Our country needs education that is focused on action and performance. For education to be effectively carried out, we need a calm environment. I call on all to join President Paul Biya to fight all forms of violence at our borders.
Be vigilant and report all forms of abnormalities. Maintain good hygiene to ensure an economy void of diseases like Cholera and Ebola,” the Governor stated.
He announced that the issue of illegal schools will be a forgotten story by 2015. “Decentralisation has come to stay. Mayors should ensure transparency and work closely with Sub Regional Inspectors of Basic Education. The Region is counting on you for better results this academic year,” he continued.
The Regional Delegate of Basic Education, Susana Fon Tata said: “We will work together to exploit this theme and improve on the performance of our children. We should work hard to render our schools more effective, productive and attractive. Teach the children the value of excellence and the love for excellence. I think the Excellence Award that was implemented in the Region some time ago should be reintroduced to encourage excellence in the Region”, she maintained.
Fon said the time has come for all educationists to put hands on deck to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, for the 2015 deadline is close. She said all children need to be educated while lamenting the drastic drop in the number of legal schools from 365 in 2011 to 31. She said classrooms need great attention as structures are volatile to disaster. She recalled that on March 2, 2014, a classroom collapsed at GS Benakuma on four pupils killing two.
She thanked Mayors for recruiting teachers to assist the basic education family. She acknowledged contributions from PTA and NGOs like SHUMAS, PLAN-Cameroon for providing books, benches, and organising training programmes for teachers.
She highlighted some ministerial instructions like; ‘teachers should fight the threatening diseases like cholera and Ebola by providing good toilets and potable water in schools. Teachers who do not work must be reported to hierarchy and stipulated dates for registering children for public exams must be respected, amongst others.
Dr Edwin Tata, while giving a talk on cholera and Ebola, said 143 cases of cholera were recorded in the Region and 11 deaths in 2011. He said cholera is a disease caused by poor hygiene, adding that cholera outbreak is frequent in the Far North Region because of open defecation practised by inhabitants during the dry season. When the rainy season starts, it pulls the faeces and other dirty substances to streams which they drink.
Ebola, he continued, is the most deadly human disease ever with an incubation period of two to 21 days. Dr Tata advised that people should avoid eating primates like gorillas, chimpanzees, apes and bats for they are potential sources of the virus. He advised that people should avoid contact with infected persons or corpses of infected persons to prevent the virus from spreading and should wash hands frequently with soap and clean water.
