By Emmanuel F. Sanosi
In October 1954 the founder of Ad Lucem, Dr Louis Paul Ojola, signed an agreement with the Catholic Church to educate young Cameroonians in whom he detected certain potentials, but whose families were too poor to educate them. Among the first to benefit from this scheme were young Paul Biya and
four others, who were sent to Lycée LeClerc on scholarship at the
"premiere" level.
When they obtained their Baccalaureate, young Biya again received another scholarship to study in France where he read Social Sciences.Many people have argued that such a person, though from a poor family, did not really experience poverty during his formative years. Besides, when he left school, he immediately joined the civil service. Can such a person actually grasp the full impact of the misery in which this government has plunged the ordinary Cameroonian?
In attempts to denigrate the importance of Catholic education, many have often cited top-level government officials, almost all of whom passed through mission schools, as examples of products of Catholic mission schools. Their argument has always been that with the high level of corruption, bad governance and embezzlement of public funds, our leaders and government ministers reflect the kind of education that confessional schools provide.
We recently questioned two government school teachers to know what they think about the kind of education offered in Catholic schools as opposed to education in government schools. John Mankefor and his colleague, who demanded anonymity, are both teachers in Government Secondary School, Bali. Their arguments reflect a general trend with regards to the two systems of education.
Mr Mankefor said though he is a government teacher, he would rather send his children to Catholic schools if he could afford it, as he put it, "Catholic education is integral."His colleague retorted, arguing that Catholic education focuses on examination syllabus. He said this is the reason Catholic schools perform excellently in public exams. He, however, admitted that Catholic schools do instil discipline in their students, though he downplayed the long term impact of the value, "I don't know what use discipline is," he declared, "You only need to see how our country is being governed to ask yourself where that spirit of discipline and moral rectitude has evaporated to," he concluded sarcastically.
But is it that simple? Can a teacher, who has given his students the best, be blamed if the students fail or refuse to apply what they have been taught? The Head Master of Catholic Primary School Bayelle, Pius Verdzekov, disagrees arguing that even if Catholic schools concentrate on preparing students for examination, a point of view he disagrees with, he would like the government teacher from Bali to explain the alarming number of government school students who now patronise Internet cafés in Bamenda in their uniforms. It has been pointed out that many of those involved in dubious schemes via the Internet are students.
"Even if students of Catholic colleges are involved," he continues," you can never see them in their school uniforms…," a fact he attributes not only to the fear of being punished, but also to what Mr Verdzekov considers "…a sense of shame that our students have." He gave details of his school curriculum, which has 48 hours a week, 14 of these reserved for weekly Mass, religious studies and other activities geared towards moral upbringing.
Pupils, he explains, start their school day at 7.30am with morning devotion, and then they say the Angelus at noon, interspersed with both Graces before and after meals during break period. During the Lenten season, they interrupt classes every Friday for two hours from 9.00am to say the Stations of the Cross. This does not include the hours set aside for religious studies and other moral education activities. Besides, many of these pupils come from practicing Christian homes where they pray the Rosary every evening before going to bed. They still attend Sunday Mass which is obligatory in many Catholic primary schools within the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province.
This means that a child, who attends a Catholic primary school for the required six years, would have put in a total of 3024 hours of religious studies, a sufficiently long period to inculcate in the children an acceptable moral education. Such a child is unlikely to wilfully engage in any immoral activity, although he cannot be labelled a saint as, due to peer pressure, he may succumb to temptation from time to time.
On the contrary, a child in a government school, even if he comes from a Christian home, only puts in an average of about 400 hours of religious studies in six years at the primary level, most of which comes from Sunday Masses and evening devotions such as praying the Rosary at home. Yet, advocates of secular education expect such a child to be more morally inclined in his behaviour than his Catholic school mate.
To this standpoint, the principal of PSS Mankon has only one question; "Then why have our schools been invaded by children of top-ranking government officials, especially those from French speaking homes, who would rather struggle with courses in the English Language, than study in government bilingual colleges?"
The bottom-line, according to the English Language Pedagogic Adviser at the NW Provincial Delegation for Secondary Education, F. Diom, who quotes the Bible, "From their fruits, you will know them." He is referring to the devotion of Catholic teachers, some who earn as little as FCFA 9.000 in some parish schools. He says that he cannot find another explanation for the exceptional work Catholic teachers are doing, other than the fact that they themselves received a Catholic education. "There is no government teacher who will go to class if his salary has not yet been paid, and almost all of them spend more time in privately-arranged classes than they do in official hours at school."
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