Cameroon: GCE Board Issues Certificates to Thousands after 12 Years Delay

By Christopher Ambe Shu

At last, 85,836 candidates who wrote and passed technical examinations organized by the Cameroon General Certificate of Education (GCE) Board from 1995 to 2007 can now collect their certificates after years of delay.

But it remains unclear whether the GCE Board would compensate the candidates for the delay. The lack of certificates for years made it rather difficult if not impossible for many students wishing to further their studies in foreign institutions or universities in the situation where school authorities insisted on seeing certificates. Many others could not get employment for failing to present their certificates. Yet others who by some luck got admission into foreign universities on condition that they would later present their certificates have not been able to graduate several years after completing the courses for lack of the certificates. In the absence of certificates, the GCE Board was issuing attestations of results which were not accepted by some authorities as substitutes for certificates.

Humphrey Ekema, Monono incumbent registrar of Cameroon GCE on March 20 during a public ceremony at Bilingual Grammar School, Molyko-Buea to announce the availability of the certificates and to award certificates to some outstanding laureates, expressed regrets for the undue delay.
“Candiadtes, who have been successful in the GCE Technical Examinations since 1995 through 2007 and those of the Baccalaureate Technique and Brevet de Technicien Examinations organized in English since1997 through 2007, have gone without certificates”, said the registrar at the ceremony ,which was chaired by Louis Bapes Bapes ,Minister of Secondary Education.

The ceremony was considered special because it was the first time in the history of the GCE board that a government minister was handing out certificates directly to candidates who distinguished themselves in the 2007 Examinations organized by the Cameroon GCE Board

Conscious that the GCE Board also runs GCE Ordinary and Advanced Levels but has been producing their certificates, Monono noted that the non-production of the technical examinations certificates had increased “the low opinion the public has of technical education”.
The GCE Board Registrar did not give reasons for the delay of technical examination certificates but thanked the Minister of Secondary Education for providing the means that ensured the production of the thousands of certificates, thus diffusing the tension that was “brewing among studnts, parents, teachers and school administrators on the non-existence of these official valuable documents”
The GCE Board as at now, Monono boasted, does not owe any candidate “any certificate debt” having produced 53,766 certificates(for 2007)session only) in general education,28,350 for Technical education,1,855 for Baccalaureate Technique and 1,877 certificates for Brevet de technician exams. It emerged that, as at now, the GCE board since its creation in 1994 has issued a total of 567,357 certificates including those of 1991-1993 GCE Examinations that were conducted by the Ministry of National Education. He added that the GCE Board started in 1994 with two examinations, 26 subjects and 23,826 candidates but in 2007, the Board had 8 examinations, 415 subjects and 76,188 candidates

The Registrar said the GCE board now produces exam results faster and is “working towards keeping that record, maintaining the validity and reliability of the examinations and measuring learning with honesty” .He lauded efforts made by his two predecessors-Mr Azong Wara Andrew and Dr.Omer Weyi Yembe for the “ solid foundation of today’s Board”

He said the Cameroon GCE Board is a member of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) and that Cameroon has been offered an opportunity to host the AEAA again in 2009.It first hosted in 2000.

The GCE Registrar used the ceremony to reiterate to the Minister the Board’s most pressing problems. According to Mr. Monono, they include tight office space, exposed offices with no convenient place to do confidential work, noisy environment that does not allow for concentration, lack of space to locate moderation halls, a printing press and the script library. He said the five buildings that house the services of the Board are scattered about, making it not only difficult to coordinate the scattered services but also difficult to move between the buildings.
“The State has provided land (for the construction of new GCE Board office), but the buildings are yet to come. We are aware that the minister is already doing much in this direction to ensure that befitting structures are built on the Board’s permanent site through a yearly provision of investment credits”, remarked Mr. Monono. The Board, he added, needs more skilled workers, and needs to improve on its stock of equipment. He called for much more state subvention
In his response, Minister Bapes Bapes described the award of the certificates to candidates as the success of one of the activities of the pedagogic chain. He said when he took office in at the end 2004 as minister one of the major problems inherited was the pending certificates for successful candidates at the GCE Technical Examinations, which he promised to address. “Toady after three years of hard work we are delivering 85836 certificates from 1995 to 2007-a period of 12 years”, he noted. The minister hailed the management of the GCE Board for living up to expectation.
He promised to address the problems of the Board presented by the Registrar.
He announced that some FCFA 200million has been allotted to do feasibility studies for the construction of a new GCE board office, an amount which was immediately considered by critics in the hall as too excessive. But Minister Bapes later told reporters that the large amount for feasibility studies is because the new office will cost billions of FCFA.
The Minister handed certificates to some 47 students who distinguished themselves at the 2007 GCE exams, and advised them not to sleep on their laurels so that others can emulate their performance. He later stopped at the GCE Board Office for a brief working session with the registrar and co.