Typewriting and Shorthand not to be taken off school curriculum!

Fr. Peter A. Foleng. SD.

During a recent intervention on CRTV, the Minister of Secondary Education, Louis Bapes Bapes, said that Typewriting and Shorthand should be taken off the curriculum of technical schools and be replaced by  Computer Science and Information Technology.

In an electronic and digital age, where there is better equipment for collecting and preserving information, like the tape recorder, shorthand could really be considered anachronistic. The dilemma comes with the ban on typewriting.
Typewriting and Computer Science have an intersection point and so cannot be separated. The only difference between them is that typewriting is text production and computer science is the processing of data, which has been keyed in with the use of typewriting skills. One can be a computer operator without being a typist and one can be a typist without being a computer operator.
However, a typist, at this moment must of necessity be able to operate a computer. This is because the manual typewriter has become obsolete. I recently talked with typewriting and computer teachers, Mr. Clement Akomontoh and Ms Immaculate Banfila respectively, and some students of St. Rita's Catholic Technical High School Nkambe, and it was clear to me that it is an added advantage for students to do their typing directly on the computer.
They confirmed that most of the topics in typewriting are always repeated in Computer Science classes. When we look at the past examination questions for the General Certificate of Education (GCE), the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the City & Guilds International, there are great similarities in the setting of the questions in Typewriting and Word Processing (Computer Science).
Consequently, Typewriting should be a topic in computer science and Forms One and Two students should be taught keyboard procedures. Care should therefore be taken to ensure that prior to starting computer science in Form Three, students should already know all about the keyboard. Most students who study typewriting on the manual typewriter usually have difficulties with the computer keyboard.
This is because the keys of the manual typewriter are harder to manipulate than those of the computer. Some students sometimes press and maintain a finger on one key on the computer keyboard as they do with the typewriter, only to discover to their embarrassment that they've produced a long line of a particular letter.
Learning to use the keyboard is only an introduction to typewriting. Typewriting being text production, speed and accuracy play a crucial part. To acquire speed and accuracy, one must have a mastery of the keyboard, which can only come with practice. Typewriting skills are then employed in the reproduction of a text.
This must take into account such vital signs as the omission sign or the carried-forward sign. Since the electronic age has not eliminated scripts, it is obvious that people will make mistakes and will have to carry out some editing on their scripts. It is not necessary to eliminate the scripts with errors and write out new ones. One has only to use vital signs to make the necessary corrections. It is then the typist who will reproduce the text comprehensively and coherently.
For example; The Minister of Secondary Education,‡ has issued a ban on Shorthand and Typewriting. This decision was made over the weekend ƒ¿ while launching the National Bilingualism day. ‡ = Mr. Louis Bapes Bapes.   ƒ¿  in Dschang.
Only a student of Typewriting can read these signs. Over the past few years, the Cameroon GCE Board has left the option of using either a manual or electronic keyboard in the typewriting examination. External Examination Boards, like the City & Guilds International London, no longer use appellations like typewriting but talk rather of Text Production.
This must be done with the use of the electronic keyboard (computer). That is why the Minister should have banned the use of manual keyboards and not typewriting. It is our hope, however, that this ban would facilitate the replacement of manual typewriters from our offices with computers.
Some public offices, notably the police force,  still have relics of German presence in Cameroon for typewriters. Hopefully, such machines would serve a useful purpose one day in one of our museums.