Anglophone teachers in Yaoundé have refused to correct copies of the 2017 Common Entrance Examination ⁰

Unhappy with the reduction the Francophone government’s reduction of the marking fees from 60 francs last year to 33 CFA francs this year, Anglophone teachers in Yaoundé have said that they will not correct a single script of the Common Entrance Examination that held on Tuesday 16 May 2017.  The expression on the faces, and the angry tone of the conversations held with some of the teachers by our cream of reporters in Yaoundé, speaks volumes about the prevailing situation.

The 2017 session of the Common Entrance has just been completed by the primary school pupils and they are now waiting for the red ball pen users to get the correction job done. However, Cameroon Concord News has learnt from the Anglophone teaching community in Yaoundé that none of these teachers intend to enter the marking centers.

The Southern Cameroonians have refused to make the corrections and are also denouncing the drastic reduction of their expenses envisaged for this task. They had already done so last year, when the Biya Francophone government reduced the correction costs by half, from 120 CFA francs to 60 francs. The teachers were already in the marking centers yesterday Wednesday, May 17, 2017 preparing the marking scheme to start the corrections, when the CPDM Regional Delegate for the Center Region sent by the Minister of Basic Education announced another drastic reduction- a reduction according to which each teacher will receive only 33 CFA francs per corrected script.

This time around, the pill was impossible to swallow for these dedicated Anglophone teachers especially as reductions have become recurring in the cost of marking the Common Entrance Examination. Based on a Prime Minister Order that sets the fee for correction of the Common Entrance at 120 CFA francs, the angry teachers have made it clear that no copy will be marked under these conditions. It is now evident the Southern Cameroons crisis has spilled over into French Cameroun.

By Rita Akana

Cameroon Concord News