The number of applicants seeking admission into the newly created Higher Technical Teachers Training College, HTTTC Kumba has reached 14,000 The Post has learnt.
The figure is far beyond the minimal 500 chances available for the newly created HTTTC Kumba in Meme Division of the Southwest Region, to go operational in October 2014.
In terms of financial gains, the Government of Cameroon should be boasting of over FCFA 280 million in its treasury, given that each applicant was required to pay a warranty of FCFA 20,000.
However, the above figure does not include expenditures the applicants made in procuring fiscal stamps which cost between FCFA 1000 and FCFA 1200, depending on the point of purchase.
The Post learnt that each applicant used not less than three fiscal stamps or more in the process of compiling and certifying their documents in readiness for the entrance examination into the school.
The Post also gathered that there is high pressure from political and tribal circles for persons of particular tribes, political affiliations and public standing, for their candidates to be admitted.
Recently, this reporter witnessed a scene where a woman came pleading for a politician to help ease the admission of her daughter into HTTTC but the politician objected to this but advised that influence will only help if the child in question succeeds in the written part of the entrance examination.
Educationists, such as the Executive Secretary of the Cameroon Teachers Trade Union, CATTU, Wilfred Tasang, and the national President of the Teachers Association of Cameroon, TAC, Paul Ninjoh, are both opting for admission into HTTTC Kumba and Bambili to be reserved only for Cameroonians with GCE Board certificates.
Ninjoh and Tasang argued, during an August 29 meeting in Buea, that such a move will guarantee that the teachers admitted studied in the English system of education and will be able to teach in English upon graduation.
In the meantime, information on the website of the University of Buea under which HTTTC Kumba is administered indicates a change in date for the entrance examination.
The announcement issued by the Vice Chancellor, Nalova Lyonga, puts the new date at Saturday, October 11, 2014. The communiqué further states that, to avoid clashes, the new date and time for the examination is same Saturday, October 11 at 8.00am to 12 noon, for the 1st Cycle and 2.00pm to 6.00pm for the 2nd Cycle.
