SDF insists HTTTC Bambili, Kumba not for Francophones

The SDF Party has not given up its assertion that the two Anglophone Higher Technical Teachers’ Training Colleges; Bambili and now Kumba, are not for Francophones. Some 15 SDF MPs had, December 11, 2013, confronted Prime Minister Philemon Yang with problems plaguing Anglophone Technical Education. And on Monday, April 14, when Yang granted them audience, they reiterated that the technical schools are for Anglophones only; not Francophones.

Appreciating the Prime Minister’s prompt response the SDF Parliamentarians told the Prime Minister in a memo, a copy of which The Post got, that there is a dire need to train technical school teachers for the English sub-system.

The memo reads, “The two schools, if organised and run in a purely Anglo-Saxon style, will give us the opportunity to train teachers who will make a mark in Anglophone technical education. Our stand is that Government should forthwith, do profound consultations, and even ask for technical assistance where need be, in order to come up with sustainable and long-lasting solutions in the running and management of these two institutions.

“Your Excellency, we therefore suggest in all humility that the creation of the Higher Technical Teachers’ Training Colleges of Kumba and Bambili should be to cater for English-speaking Cameroonians who do need the two schools to train English-speaking technical teachers to make up for the shortfall of over 50 years.”

The MPs told Yang that they have consulted seasoned Anglophone educationists who have suggested, with strict focus only on pedagogic issues, that the following must be put in place in Kumba and Bamenda; the institutions should be purely Anglo-Saxon along the lines of what obtains in Britain, America, the Commonwealth countries and other Anglophone countries.

“Children who graduate from such an institution will be worthy products for any market anywhere in the world, even in the Francophone world, whereas, Anglophones who graduate with certificates granted by the present dispensation, with its abominable translations into English, frankly speaking, [are] half-baked products,” say the MPs.

On courses offered therein, the MPs say the national Anglo-Saxon institution must at once have technical commercial and vocational orientations. They equally suggest that the profile of teachers to be recruited must be at least 90 percent proficient in the target language which is English.

Concerning entrance exams to these schools, the MPs say they should be set strictly in English and the supervisory authorities like Ministers and other concerned Departments to launch and not to influence or change them to avoid taking in mediocre candidates.

“What do you think our partners will think of us hearing these words of the CPDM Central Committee delegate to Ndian II, Chief Eso Itoh, on the occasion of the 29th Anniversary of the CPDM in Council Club 84 in Ekondo-Titi?, saying “When admissions into HTTTC Kumba are launched, CPDM militants will be the first to benefit. Get your files ready and places are assured at ENSET Kumba.” To administer HTTTC Bambili and Kumba, to achieve a sustainable Anglo-Saxon system, the law makers suggest that Government should ensure that Anglophone administrators with technical education profiles are appointed to man these institutions.

“This will ensure that we do not fall into the confusion and disgraceful situation in Bambili where the Deans of Studies in both ENS and HTTTC are Francophones who do not and will never understand the Anglophone system of education. All they do is water it down to look like what they want,” the MPs argue.

Yang is reported to have congratulated the MPs for taking a peaceful approach to solving problems plaguing Anglophone technical education and assured the Parliamentarians that the issues raised in the four-page appraisal letter will be handled progressively given the means available. “We were grateful that for the first time, the Prime Minister gave us a listening ear,” declared Hon. Joseph Wirba Mbiydzenyuy, MP for Jakiri Special Constituency.