Dr. Mbua Hannah Etonde :"The education of children should be collective effort".

Cameroon's  Southwest Regional Delegate for Secondary Education, Dr. Mbua Hannah Etonde, , has appealed to parents, teachers and the general public to help ensure that the 2019l2020  school resumption becomes  a huge success.

The Delegate, who holds a PhD in Education Administration, cautions parents to know that 80% of the future of their children lies in their hands.

Dr. Mbua Etonde sat down, last week, for an interview with The Horizon Newspaper's Contributing Editor, Christopher Ambe, on preparations for resumption of schools.

Excerpts:

Madam Regional Delegate, schools are expected to resume on September 2^nd, how has the back-to- school campaign been faring this far, especially with regards to secondary education?

We started back -to -school preparation as far back as June .Immediately after end- of- course   exams were written and marked; we started preparation for the new school year. We did interviews into form one; we had a coordination meeting in June; we validated lists of students who gained admission into form one. And, we looked at challenges ahead of us as education stakeholders of the Region and we came up with common grounds on which we are going to work; we looked at the instructions from hierarchy as far as the formation and running of admission commissions are concerned.

The fact that a good numbers of schools did not function last year and in an effort to get them function this year, we have created a taskforce, which has   stakeholders from all works of life- at the level of the region, right down to divisions and subdivisions; of course, this taskforce has to work with all stakeholders in their immediate communities to ensure that schools are functioning.

What actually is the taskforce supposed to do?

The taskforce is supposed to sensitize all stakeholders, give them roles for instance, that parents have the duty to send their children to school, pay the fees and supply every other essential school need prescribed by the Ministry of Secondary Education; and that parents cannot just sit and wait for schools to reopen. Parents should know that 80% of the future of their children lies in their hands,so they should try to give their suggestions to school principals, and PTA executives and school management boards; and even elites, that they put their own suggestions through to them on how they can best manage the schools and ensure security. The taskforce is supposed to liaise with the sub divisional administrations, divisions or depending on where the school finds itself; to liaise with the administration to ensure security in the schools; the mayors and councilors to make sure they have vigilante groups; liaise with elites and put all their efforts in one basket all intended to ensure the smooth functioning of the school.

We thought that if we allowed the effective running of schools in the hands of  just  principals, their collaborators or PTA executives it may not bear enough fruits as we expect. So we thought that everybody should put hands on deck; the education of our children should be a collective effort.

And so the task force is working and from the feedback we have got it is possible that schools will reopen and security will be reinforced; and many more schools will open their doors in September than we had  last year school year.

There is this problem of some internally displaced school children seeking admissions in their new-found localities rather late. How do you address this problem when confronted with?

Since the crisis erupted we have not denied any internally displaced student who comes for admission. We even have cases where children come without a single report card but once we are sure that the child’s house was burnt or that he or she ran from the village because of the crisis, we admit them. We have had cases without birth certificates, they are admitted; once we are convinced that they are IDPs we encourage them by admitting them to study. That is why some of the functional schools last year were overcrowded and the teachers overworked themselves.

So, internally displaced students are welcomed. But at the same time we think that if students had left say GHS Mile 16 and moved to GBHS Mutengene, and there is calm in Mile 16 now, we expect that such students should return to their original school.

With this crisis situation, are school fees for the various classes in government schools and PTA levies fixed ?

Nobody has changed school fees. There is a text that was signed long ago that stated that students who attend general secondary school-form one to five they pay 7,500frs as school fees; lower sixth and upper sixth they pay 10,000frs

Students of technical education, frist to the fourth year, they pay 10,000frs and for fifth to seventh year they pay 15,000frs.

This school money, according the development in Secondary Education, is paid through mobile money (either MTN,Express Union,Campost) and this year there is the introduction of the UDA bank. The ministry has arranged with Afriland Bank,and when the money is paid ,the bank will send it to the school accounts.

There is PTA for secondary schools. Every parent of a student in secondary school contributes depending on the demands of the school in question. And so PTA is not a globally fixed amount. If for instance, this year a school thinks that because of insecurity the PTA should assist in building a fence round the school, they decide an amount. The levy will not be the same in another school that has a fence and needs money to pay but teachers.

 While the Government spends so much money to pay teachers, the schools are too many, and there is no school in this region where we have teachers for all subjects. You will have teachers for subjects ABCD and no teacher for subjects E & and F. So the parents need to come in.

By now, schools that hoped to function already had their PTA meetings and projects to the PTA and school management boards and parents have already chosen what they can do to help the school.

Is the PTA levy also paid via online?

No! It is paid to the school directly. The Minister of Secondary education Professor  Nalova Lyonga  has done so well by giving a vast time span for payment; that for registration money, parents can pay gradually –even up to the end of December. But we need that at least they pay their PTA levies so parents can carry out what every security or pedagogic projects that they have accepted to carryout in the school.

How many secondary schools are in the southwest Region?

 We have four hundred and two (402) secondary schools including lay private and confessional schools.

Is there any banned school in the region?

For this year, there is none at least for now. Remember that the minister is doing everything to encourage schools to function and for children to go to school. We have written our reports about schools and submitted to the ministry and we are still waiting for decisions to come to us; but for now, no school has been banned.

What percentage of schools functioned last year?

As at last year the overall percentage of school attendance was about 32%. Thirty-two percentage because the whole of Lebialem Division no school opened its doors ;Kupe Munenguba juts about 7% opened their doors; Meme Division, only about 15%;Ndian Division had about 23%; Fako Division had about 72% of attendance.

In all, school attendance was about 32%, which was very poor.

We hope that by God’s grace the attendance will increase significantly. We are not expecting 100% because we know the challenges schools in very remote areas face.

Do you have any special appeal you to the public?

I am sure that from the way I am talking those [reading me] would know that I am talking as a mother. I am not talking like a boss but like a mother. I know the importance of education; I know what schooling does to people. I am a living example. If my mother did not send me to school I wouldn’t be sitting here as Regional Delegate for Secondary Education. And my dream for our children is that they should have a brighter future than we of this generation do.And the only key to that bright future is education. To all the children in Akwaya,Bakassi,Kupe Mueneguba,Bafia-Muyuka,Munyenge,Mbonge,konye and Lebialem, etc who have not gone to school for two years now ,I am appealing to them not to darken their future; anyone who advises that the child should not go to school doesn’t like that child. Any parents who do not want their children go to school want to kill their generation and the next generation. Education is the only thing that can change the situation of an individual, a family and community, and if we have schools at our doors please let us make use of it.Let parents send their children to school.

You are first of all a teacher; do you have a message for teachers?

I would like to appeal to teachers that, theirs is a vocation and not a profession; and in a vocation, there are times when things are really bad but as a teacher you understand that the future of children, the future of a whole community and a whole generation lies in your hands. I urge teachers to take their responsibility. They should work as the ones who have volunteered to be the torch-bearers of society and go and teach.

For those whose schools cannot reopen for due to insecurity, I am appealing that they redeploy themselves and voluntarily go to functional schools, take up timetables and teach.

For principals who think that their schools will not be able to function, they should move to safer sites following the recommendations of the Regional Delegation.

NB:This Interview also appears in The HORIZON newspaper,Cameroon,of Thursday ,August 29,2019