By Ireneaus Chia Chongwain
(Note: The Minister of Defense has changed his decision allowing candidates from the English sub-system with 2 Advanced Level subjects to sit for the competitive exams into the combined Military Academy. This editorial was written before the decision was taken)
Recruitment into the military academy, which the Cameroon government recently ordered has, like most things in Cameroon, turned sour. Perhaps as a result of an expected massive response from potential aspirants and as a pre-emptive measure, the Ministry for Defence decided to tighten recruitment conditions which, unfortunately, seem to affect a group of candidates more than others. Aspirants from the English sub system should have three Advanced level subjects, while candidates from the French sub system require only a simple Baccalaureat pass to sit for the exam.
Many may be spared the unfortunate young man’s fate, as the Minister for Defence has stepped up eligibility conditions for candidates from the English education sub system, from the usual two subjects, excluding Religious knowledge, to three Advanced Level subjects, technically knocking out thousands of indisputably deserving candidates.
What is most disturbing is that even before aspiring recruits have been given a chance to prove their intellectual and physical capacity, some already have a competitive advantage over others. The decision could be less hurtful if it affected candidates from both the French and English educational systems, but that is just not the case as the Ministry has decided, as in most cases, to sacrifice Cameroonians from the English sub system. After all have they, in pure military language, not proven to be soft targets that could be destroyed and the collateral damage remains limited?
This decision has revealed what many Cameroonians from the French sub system think about products from the English sub system. There is a tinge of superiority in this decision, make no mistake about it! The powers that be may, as expected, decide to play the role of fire fighters as they seek to right the wrong this decision has provoked, but the message, the result of a subliminal effect, evidently, has gone out loud and clear- we have no respect or trust in your system.This highlights another reality in this country- growing impunity and swell-headedness. What right has a minister to take a decision that out rightly violates a presidential decree? The laws of a country have to be rigid and impartial for if they are made to be seen or become fluid and impartial, they will not serve the majority, but only the interest of the few who panel beat them to their taste. The State must guard against such manipulations, for though deceptively innocuous, they are more dangerous than time bombs.
From a purely I.Q acumen-rating point of view, is a student with three Advanced Level subjects necessarily more intelligent than another with two subjects? What proof is there that all those with a simple Baccalaureat pass are brighter than those with two Advanced level subjects? Have those admitted to the military academy in the past with two Advanced level subjects performed less than those with a simple Baccalaureat pass? Was there any rationale behind the decision or was it simply born out of a sense of supposed ministerial infallibility?
This decision is not an unfortunate first in this country’s chequered history of rivalry between Cameroon’s major educational systems. It is just a tip of the iceberg as many English speaking candidates in some professional schools, even in the English speaking part of Cameroon, continue to be taught in French and it does not mean anything to anybody.
The logic in Cameroon requires that Anglophones should make an effort to either speak or study in French and not the other way round. Official documents are supposed to be in the two official languages but are almost always in French. So, the disrespect for English in this country is not only long established, but also systemic. A hastily taken decision could have far reaching repercussions especially within a context where politically-oriented thinking, not reason, influences policy.
Experience has shown that disgrace and shame have been the nemesis of those who tried to hold the English sub-system in derision. Many have tried before to absorb or assimilate it and paid a heavy price and anyone who dares again, should know that he has chosen to walk on the thorny side again!
SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS ARE JUST PLAIN STUPID, WHAT IS SUB-SYTEM? SUB-HUMAN
ANGLOPHONE. ? WHY DENIGRATE YOUR SELF.
BE PROUD OF YOURS , OUR ENGLISH EDUCATION SYSTEM IS NOT SUB TO ANY ONE IN AFRICA, CAMEROUN OR THE WORLD, THE FRENCH , SPANISH AND OTHER SYSTEMS ARE NOT SUB EITHER, THERE ARE PLAIN AND SIMPLY NON-UNIVERSAL AND DIFFERENT. SOO TO CALL A SYSTEM SUB IS DENIGRADING, ANGLOPHONE IS DENEGRADING, WE ARE SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS NOT ANGLOPHONES, INTS INDEPENDENCE THAT WE ARE SEEKING, NOT SECESSION. WE ARE NEVER PART OF CAMEROUN , WE CAME IN AS A COUNTRY IN WHOLE NOT AS A COLONY OR SPECY>
Posted by: DANGO TUMMA | October 19, 2009 at 07:00 PM
FIRSTLY MR WRITER , YOU SHOULD TELL THE WORLD WHO IS THIS MINISTER> WHAT LANGUAGE DOES HE SPEAKS, WHO ELECTED HIM OR APPOINTED, WHAT CONNECTION THIS MINISTER HAVE WITH SOUTRHERN CAMEROONS
REMEMBER SOUTHERN CAMEROONS AND CAMEROUN ARE TWO COUNTRIES NOT ONE. I MEAN EVEN AFTER 1961 . THEY JUST LIVES SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE CAMEROUN MILITARY CONTROLLING SOUTHERN CAMEROONS FOR 48 YEARS, THERE IS NOTHING BINDING OR
COMMON TO THEM WHAT SOO EVER. CAMEROUN HATES SOUTHERN CAMEROONS THATS WHY ITS ARMY IS STATION THERE AND ITS CONTROLS SOUTHERN CAMEROONS EDUCATION CXURRICLUM FROM ITS OWN CAPITAL , EVEN AS CAMEROUN DOENST UNDERSTANDS ENGLISH.
Posted by: DANGO TUMMA | October 19, 2009 at 07:06 PM
WHEN WRITING ANT THING GEARED FOR THE CONSUMPTION 0F 7.5M SOUTHERN CAMEROONINS
YOU MUST WRITE IN OUR PERSPECTIVE.
OURS IS THAT OF TWO DIFFRERENT COUNTRIES NOT ONE COUNTRY, WHEN YOU THINK ITS ONE COUNTRY, YOU FIRST AND FOREMOST LIE TO YOUR SELF, SOME THING VERY EVIL , THAT NOT ONE SHOULD DO.
ANY ONE WHO LIES TO HIMSELF HAVE NOTHING GOOD TO DO OR TELL THE WORLD THEREAFTER.
Posted by: DANGO TUMMA | October 19, 2009 at 07:14 PM