Cameroon has sent government ministers and governors to convince disgruntled teachers to return to classrooms and teach. The teachers have been protesting for a month, demanding better pay and the payment of salary arrears, some dating back 10 years.

Cameroon officials say opposition politicians and what the government calls irresponsible civil society groups are encouraging protesting teachers to continue to defy state authority.

The government says several dozen politicians and civil society groups are asking children to not go to school and teachers not to teach until the government provides all their needs.

Cameroonian teachers have been protesting for a month, demanding better pay and working conditions.

Eleven political parties, including the Social Democratic Front, the Union of Cameroon People and the Cameroon Peoples Party, have asked the government to find satisfactory and definitive answers to the teachers’ demands. They said the protest is legitimate.

The government has asked senior state officials including governors and ministers to convince teachers to return to classrooms and teach.

Nalova Lyonga, Cameroon’s minister of secondary education, says Cameroonian President Paul Biya promised to pay teachers’ outstanding transportation fares and salary arrears gradually starting this month.

“Teachers, please come back. Don’t go to the streets. There is no need to go to the streets because the head of state is listening. We are going to make the teachers proud. We have to do that, so let me get my teachers back,” she said.

Lyonga said many teachers refuse to return to the classrooms but did not say how many.

The teachers say about 80,000 of them are owed a total of about $200 million.

Biya this month ordered the payment of $4 million in back pay for striking teachers who graded exams. Teachers dismissed the amount as insufficient.

Cameroon also promised to pay $34 million this month and said the rest of the transportation fares will be paid gradually. While some teachers returned to work, others again said the money is largely insufficient.

Eloundou Patrice, a spokesperson for OTS, a teachers’ pressure group spearheading the protest, says when a similar protest was held in 2017, Cameroon’s government said Biya ordered the payment of salary arrears. Eloundou says one month of salary arrears for some teachers was paid, and when the protest was called off, the government stopped settling the debts to teachers. He says he does not trust Biya and his government.

The government continues to claim it will improve the living and working conditions of teachers by providing their needs gradually.

Teachers say some of them are owed up to 10 years of salary arrears. They also asked for the monthly salaries of primary school teachers to be increased from about $150 to at least $400 and those of secondary school teachers to be increased from about $400 to at least $800.

Source: VOA

Teachers in Cameroon are refusing to work, citing unpaid salaries, some dating back years. Government-led negotiations Tuesday failed to reach an agreement, putting the education of hundreds of thousands of children on hold.

Students at Government Bilingual High School Deido in the city of Douala sing that the government should pay their teachers so children have access to education.

In the song, the children say their dreams of becoming government ministers, doctors, journalists and entrepreneurs will be shattered if the government fails to listen to teachers.

Architect David Muluh has three children in the school. He says he visited the school on Wednesday to find out why teachers come to school but refuse to teach and “because of COVID, children have not been regular in school. If they continue losing [education] because their teachers are on strike, the children’s future is jeopardized. So, my plea is that the government should look into their problems.”

Muluh said school attendance in Cameroon has not been regular since the central African state reported its first cases of COVID-19 in March 2020.

He said during the Africa Football Cup of Nations, which Cameroon hosted last month, the government interrupted classes so students could fill empty football stadiums. He said children have no time to waste if they are to prepare for this year’s final examinations, expected in May.

Ten Cameroon teachers’ associations and unions last week announced a strike against what they call the disrespect of teachers by the government.

The teachers say the monthly salaries of primary school teachers should be increased from about $150 to at least $400. They are also asking the salaries of secondary school teachers to be increased from about $400 to at least $800.

Valentine Tameh, president of the Teachers’ Association of Cameroon, says his colleagues are particularly angry because the government has recruited more teachers than it can pay and now owes several years of unpaid salaries.

“You have teachers who have gone for 9 years, 10 years, without salaries and the government has kept promising and kept promising and promising and what is most irksome is that those who have money, go and give bribes and they have their arrears, they have their salaries.”

The sides negotiated Tuesday, and the government promised to look into the teachers’ grievances and pay the outstanding salaries of at least 17,000 teachers, though it did not say when.

A statement from Fouda Seraphin Magloire, secretary general of the prime minister’s office, said the teachers agreed to suspend the strike.

Geography instructor Appolinnaire Ze, a spokesman for the disgruntled teachers, says the teachers agreed to no such thing.

Ze says all teachers should go to school, but should not teach. He says school children should be calm and understand that teachers are going through a very difficult time. Ze says teachers should be humble but courageous to ask intimidating police and government officials if the police and government officials can also work for so many years without being paid.

The government denies that its officials and the police are trying to intimidate the teachers.

Source: VOA

Education is on standby in Cameroon’s English-speaking South West and North West regions, where students and the education system are paying a high price for a war between separatists and the Defense and Security Forces (DSF).

This year’s traditional Feb. 11 Youth Day parade was marked by the burning of dormitories and threats against students at Queen of the Rosary College Okoyong in Mamfe in the South West region by armed separatists the night before.

The video of the fire was posted on social media, infuriating the public and upsetting the national and international communities. The attack has renewed debate over the state of education in Cameroon’s separatist-afflicted regions, which have been ravaged by the separatists since 2016.

“Feb. 11 is not to be celebrated in the North West and South West because of the war that is going on. We are at war. We should not pretend. Sometimes we do this to get the attention of the international community because we know that they are following all the events closely. Our videos are war strategies,” ‘Daddy Boy’, leader of the Ambazonia Military Forces (AMF), a group of separatist fighters, told Anadolu Agency by phone.

The English-speaking minority in this bilingual Central African country feels marginalized and has staged a series of protests since 2016 calling for independence.

The unresolved conflict has resulted in at least 15 attacks on schools and 268 abductions of students and education professionals, deteriorating the security situation, closing schools and depriving 700,000 students since 2017, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Separatists have “attacked, intimidated or threatened thousands of students, education workers and parents in an effort to prevent children from attending school,” it said.

Local authorities and non-governmental organizations also reported school massacres in which at least 11 students and at least two teachers lost their lives between 2020 and 2021. Of these students, the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) documented two killings between October and November 2021 by the DSF.

“Armed separatists bear full responsibility for these targeted attacks on education, but the response of the Cameroonian government and security forces has been inadequate and is hampered by the numerous abusive counterinsurgency operations in the Anglophone regions, which have spread deep mistrust among the civilian population victimized by these operations,” according to HRW.

Daddy Boy reported that when the struggle began in 2016, the only objective was to stop schools with the help of civil society in order to get the government’s attention.

”But things have changed on the ground and the struggle persists. We found out that at this stage, schools have no effect because we are now in a total war, so there is no point in disturbing the students from going to school,” he said.

He is convinced that the government is working on school attacks also through the military in order to incriminate the separatists and stir up international outrage.

“We are here to support and protect these children as our top priority, not to harm them in any way. I speak as a fighter on the ground. If we were killing children, then there would be no schools, and yet there are still schools open. To enter the premises of a school and mourn all the students is nothing for us because we know all the roads and the environment of our towns, but we cannot do that because we all know what we are fighting for,” he said.

Human rights lawyer Agbor Nkongho Felix Balla said that although the Cameroonian government has signed the UN Safe Schools Declaration, its military has not provided school security.

Following the Oct. 24, 2020 massacre at Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba in the South West region, where at least seven children aged 7 to 12 were killed by bullets and knives and a dozen injured, the Ministry of Communication said the attacked school had launched its activities without the government’s knowledge and therefore could not benefit from the same protective measures as other schools.

The secessionists’ objective was to break the momentum observed in the resumption of classes, it said, also accusing Cameroonians in the diaspora of orchestrating these despicable killings and fueling the climate of insecurity in the Anglophone regions.

The separatists denied it, calling it “false allegations” and blamed the security forces for some of the school attacks. The government has refuted the charges, saying these are intended to discredit the military.

Student soldiers

Meanwhile, Balla warned of the possibility of the uneducated generation of Anglophone youth joining criminal fighters because they lack other economic survival skills.

“Before joining the struggle, I was a student and at the same time a businessman. But after the murder of my three brothers and the way we’ve been mistreated, I decided to fight as a separatist,” said Daddy Boy.

He cited former classmates and teachers who are on the battlefield with him today “because they have definitely lost everything they owned, from their homes, businesses and personal belongings.”

“Many of our people have joined this fight not because they desire separation or a separate country, but because they are frustrated and have nowhere else to go. Some join because their family members are imprisoned,” he explained.

“For others who are dissatisfied, joining the war provides them protection from the AmbaBoys (or Ambazonians),” he added.

Despite the “pain,” he said he is ready to end the fight and return to school at any time if he has the opportunity to, and in a different atmosphere — this after the release of war prisoners, the Anglophone zones’ demilitarization, a general amnesty and after a real peaceful dialogue with “a third party mediation on neutral ground.”

The dialogue organized on Sept. 30, 2019 by Cameroon’s President Paul Biya was, according to him, “a monologue” without a real willingness to engage in dialogue because the necessary conditions were not met and separatist fighters were exposed to the possibility of being arrested or killed.

If the government and separatists could have ended the conflict, they would have, according to Arrey Elvis Ntui, a senior Cameroonian expert with the International Crisis Group (ICG).

“The government and the separatists are pursuing a military strategy, in part because of the government’s reluctance to engage in inclusive talks with these Anglophone groups. What is sorely lacking is a mediation effort that can reduce the mistrust between the parties and bring them to the negotiating table,” he said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Humanitarian Coordinator in Cameroon, Mr. Matthias Z. Naab is deeply concerned by two more attacks against schools in the South-West region.

On 8 and 11 February 2022, armed men from non-State armed groups burned down two schools, respectively the public primary school of Molyko in Buea, and Queen of Rosary Catholic College in Mamfe, both in the South-West region of Cameroon. These two incidents are the latest of several attacks on students, education staff and premises, depriving more than 700,000 students from their right to proper and safe education in the North-West and South-West regions.

“Education is a fundamental right to all children, yet many have not been allowed to enjoy this right. Children are traumatized, parents are scared, teachers and school administrators are afraid. With education under attack, the future of thousands of young Cameroonians is at risk. This is unacceptable,” said Mr. Naab. “Education establishments should be safe spaces for all students and teachers. Therefore, I call upon all perpetrators to refrain from actions that impede access to education, in accordance to Security Council Resolution 2601 (2021),” he added.

The United Nations and humanitarian partners in Cameroon condemn in the strongest terms all actions targeting education.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

There are no students in the playground of the high school in the Bomaka district of Buea — just the odd goat grazing on overgrown grass.

Buea is the capital of Cameroon’s Southwest Region — one of two regions gripped by violence after anglophones launched a campaign to break away from the country’s French-speaking majority.

In Bomaka, almost all the schools have been closed since 2016. It has just one junior school that remains open, but whose rollcall has slumped from around 600 to just 69 today.

“The crisis has killed the schools,” said Isaac Bissong, its headmaster. “Many pupils have left this neighbourhood to study elsewhere because they are afraid.”

In one classroom, only eight students were present when AFP visited. The silence in the once-bustling corridors was heavy.

Unlike other schools in the country, the green, red and yellow flag of Cameroon was nowhere to be seen — “that could get us into trouble,” said Bissong.

The school is located less than three kilometres (two miles) from Muea, one of the separatists’ strongholds and the scene of many clashes.

Bissong provides whatever security he can for the school, although he is not armed.

He sits on a chair at the school entrance, on the lookout for potential trouble.

– Deaths and threats –

Anglophone separatists in the Southwest and neighbouring Northwest Region regularly attack schools that they accuse of teaching in French.

Teachers and other civil servants have been killed after being accused of “collaborating” with the central government in Yaounde.

The predominantly French-speaking country is ruled with an iron fist by President Paul Biya, 88, who has been in power for 39 years.

Years-long grievances among the anglophone minority brewed for years, overflowing into a declaration of independence on October 1, 2017.

Armed separatists launched attacks on the security forces, triggering a violent crackdown.

The spiral of bloodshed has claimed more than 3,500 lives and forced around 700,000 people to flee their homes, according to monitors.

NGOs say that killings of civilians and abuses have been committed by both sides.

According to UNICEF, in 2019, some 850,000 children were not in school in the English-speaking regions.

In October 2020, a dozen men stormed the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba, in the Southwest Region, opening fire on pupils.

They killed seven children aged between nine and 12. A dozen others were shot or macheted.

On November 24 this year, four students and a teacher were killed by gunmen in the Southwest.

– ‘Children are dying’ –

“Children are dying, and teachers too, for providing an education that these armed people do not want, believing it is not good for their region,” Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told AFP during a visit to Buea.

“There’s a generation of children who are on the verge of becoming illiterate because they have not been to school.”

In the streets of downtown Buea, armed soldiers were on patrol.

Blaise Chamango, a parent, said she was constantly worried for the children’s safety.

“Before leaving them at school in the morning, I pray”.

“When we send our children to school, we can receive threats,” said another parent, Manu Dao. “I am sad because their future is at stake.”

Many families have fled.

In the Southwest’s coastal area of Souza, one school is hosting 596 displaced English-speaking children this year, out of a total of 1,087 pupils.

The pupils are sometimes crammed 90 to a class.

“Many of them are in a state of shock,” said school official Joseph Mencheng.

“Many have seen people killed, their parents in some cases. Sometimes, in the middle of a lesson, they bring up some horror they have experienced.”

Stephanie, aged 12, is in a class with children years younger than her.

“I left my village because there was a war and I couldn’t go to school for three years,” she explained.

Nine-year-old Dipanda is talking with three classmates in another crowded classroom.

She comes from a small village in the Northwest Region. She says she is delighted to be back in school after classes were stopped “because of the war.”

Source: AFP

Cameroon’s English-speaking bishops have condemned attacks on schools in the country’s conflict-ridden North West and South West Regions.

Their latest statement comes after four students and a teacher were killed on Nov. 24 at Government Bilingual High School Ekondo-Titi in the South West region.

Schools have become a battleground as Anglophone separatists fight the majority French-speaking government in the African country. For many years, the separatists imposed a schools’ boycott, which they enforced with violence.

“Our hearts have been pierced again!” said Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamemda, in a statement he signed on behalf of all the bishops of his ecclesiastical province, which overs the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

“In recent times, we have painfully witnessed an agonizing drama involving, among other evils, the targeting and killing of pupils, students and teachers … We have hardly recovered from the cruel killing of Enondiale Tchuengia Carolaisse, killed in Molyko-Buea on Thursday, October 14, 2021, and the brutal killing of another pupil, Brandy Tataw, on Friday, November 1, 2021, in Nkwen-Bamenda, then we are confronted again with the killing of four more innocent Cameroonians within the protected area of a school,” said the archbishop.

“These innocent victims are not the cause of the socio-political crisis, and their deaths cannot be the solution. Their murder is totally senseless and unacceptable,” Nkea said.

A local government administrator confirmed the attack, telling Crux that “separatist fighters laid ambush in the school before students arrived. They were dressed like soldiers to give students the feeling that they were actual soldiers guarding the school.”

Timothee Aboloa identified the students as Emmanuel Orume 12, Joyceline Iken 16, and Kum Emmanuel, 17. The teacher, Celestine Song was 58 years old and a mother of four.

“It was quite a frightening scene,” said Henry Agbor, a local resident.

“I heard a loud explosive. I was standing around the Okada beach park ready to take a bike to the beach before the mayhem broke out. Besides the teacher and students who have died, many students are also wounded,” he told Crux.

“We never expected this,” said Father Gaetan Ndongo.

“The attacks are creating fear around the place and the education of our children has been systematically sacrificed,” he told Crux.

The recent attacks are a grim reminder of the price education has had to pay in the separatist war in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, now in its 5th year.

The darkest date was probably Oct. 24, 2020, when six children were killed by suspected separatists at the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba.

Several other schools were attacked the following month, leading to the deaths of at least three other students.

Earlier this year, on Oct. 14, a soldier killed Enondiale Carolise, a student on her way to school in Buea. Another girl, Tataw Brandy, was killed by a soldier in Bamenda on Nov. 10.

The United Nations says more than 700,000 children have been forced out of school during the conflict, with 2 out of 3 schools being shut.

Yasmine Sherif, the director of Education Cannot Wait, said the Cameroon crisis is among “the most complex humanitarian crises in the world today.”

“Children and youth are having to flee their homes and schools, are threatened with violence and kidnapping, and being forced into early childhood marriage and recruited into armed groups,” said Sherif.

“We call for urgent support from donors to respond to this forgotten crisis. We call for the respect of human rights and adherence to the principles of international humanitarian law and the Safe Schools Declaration, and for partners to redouble efforts so all children and adolescents can get back to the safety, protection and hope that quality learning environments provide,” she said.

The bishops have condemned violence as a means of problem solving, insisting that life must be protected.

“We, the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda, condemn these barbaric acts, which violate all International Laws and Conventions safeguarding the inviolability of schools and the protection of learners (pupils and students), and teachers, offend against the fundamental right to education, and breaks the Fifth Commandment of God,” the statement reads.

“We have been persistent in our call for the respect and defence of human rights, especially the right to life, openness to dialogue, an option for the truth and recourse to peaceful means as the best way to a durable solution,” it continues.

While calling on the government to ensure the security of schools, we make a special appeal, once more, to all perpetrators of violence to allow the genuinely human feelings of love, pardon and benevolence to flow into their hearts so that the safety and security of all may be guaranteed, alongside the right of all young people to life and to an education and a future,” the statement added.

Source: Crux

Over 700,000 children have been impacted by school closures due to often brutal violence in Cameroon, according to an analysis released by the UN humanitarian arm, OCHA, on Thursday.

Two out of three schools are closed in the North-West and South-West regions of the country. On 24 November, four children and one teacher were killed in an attack in Ekondo Titi, in the South-West.

Lockdown

A recent lockdown imposed by a non-State armed group, from 15 September to 2 October, limited access to basic services including health and education.

Over 700,000 children have been impacted by school closures due to violence in northwest and southwest Cameroon.

During the period, OCHA reported a series of attacks in the North-West.

Eight students were kidnapped, and a girl’s fingers were chopped off after she tried to attend school. Five public school principals were also kidnapped, including one who was then killed.

All schools and community learning spaces were closed, except for some schools in a few urban areas which operated at less than 60 per cent capacity.

The lockdown and insecurity also forced UN agencies and aid organisations to temporarily suspend the delivery of aid. During that time, about 200,000 people did not receive food. 

Multiple crisis

Nine out of ten regions of the country continue to be impacted by one of three humanitarian crises: the crisis in the North-West and South-West, conflict in the Far North, and a refugee crisis, with people fleeing the Central African Republic. 

Because of these combined crises, over one million children need urgent education support. 

To answer some of these needs, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UN global fund for education in emergencies and crises, is working closely with UN agencies, the Norwegian Refugee Council and other civil society partners.

ECW is contributing $25 million over three years and calling for other donors to fill the gap, which is estimated at $50 million.

When fully funded, the programme will provide approximately 250,000 children and adolescents with access to safe and protective learning environments in the most-affected areas.

Just this week, the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, and the Director of Education Cannot Wait, Yasmine Sherif, had a joint visit to the country.

In a statement, Ms. Sherif said the situation “is among the most complex humanitarian crises in the world today.”

“Children and youth are having to flee their homes and schools, are threatened with violence and kidnapping, and being forced into early childhood marriage and recruited into armed groups,” Ms. Sherif recalled.

Jan Egeland argued that “putting a schoolbag on your back shouldn’t make you a target”, but unfortunately children in Cameroon “risk their lives every day just showing up for school.”

“Cameroon’s education mega-emergency needs international attention, not deadly silence by the outside world,” Mr. Egeland declared. 

Source: News@UN.org

Two teachers were reportedly killed and several  students injured in Ekondo Titi, the commercial capital of Ndian Division in the South West region today.

The unidentified armed men attacked Government Bilingual High School Ekondo Titi during lectures. Cameroon Concord News gathered that other academic establishments in Ndian Division were also targeted.

Today’s incident in Ekondo Titi in the Southwest region of Cameroon must be condemned by all. Placing bombs in schools will never lead to the independence many think is close-by.

Two teachers and three students of Government Secondary School Ekondo Titi were confirmed dead at press time. They were killed by people who claim to be liberators.

Reacting to the news Cameroon Concord’s Dr Joachim Arrey opined that “You don’t liberate your people by killing them. You don’t liberate children by robbing them of education that can guarantee them a bright future.”

Dr. Arrey furthered that “This version of independence, which unfortunately targets those who are not responsible for anything that has gone wrong in Cameroon, is without a doubt, the worst form of independence.”

“The government should seek ways to step up security in the war-torn regions. It should also take appropriate measures for talks to start in earnest. Children deserve to be in school. That is where they belong”  Dr. Jaochim Arrey added.

By Rita Akana

Dr. Joachim Arrey, the executive director of the Global Think Tank for Africa, a not-for-profit public relations firm has reacted to the current situation affecting schools in English speaking Cameroon. 

In his bid to ensure that Southern Cameroonian children return to school,  Dr. Joachim Arrey, the son of a headmaster, has been calling for children to return to school so that the future of both French and English speaking Cameroon can be guaranteed. Our chief political man, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai talked to him and he regretted what was happening to rural kids in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Concord News: You seem to make education a key component of life. Why?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: My father, Mr. Michael Arrey, was a teacher who always underscored the importance of education and he told my siblings and me that only education could enable us walk away from poverty and fear and he has never been wrong. That is why throughout the crisis in Southern Cameroons, I have been urging the factions involved to let our children go back to school. It is already more than five years since the conflict began and the rural child is not yet back to school. That is a long time and it is, indeed, inhuman. This is breaking my heart. My father of blessed memory instilled the love of education in me and he always encouraged me to support educational endeavors which could help other children face the future with confidence and happiness. When we rob our kids of education, we rob them of their confidence and future. We must learn to decouple our children’s education from the struggle. Those who control the fighters on the ground should push for school resumption and teachers and students should be protected by the fighters. It is time for our children to go back to school. No nation ever develops without a soundly educated population.

Cameroon Concord News: You seem to have good information on things in rural Southern Cameroons, what is your source of information?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: While my body is out of Cameroon, my soul is in Cameroon. I am in touch with my family members in Mamfe and the picture they paint to me regarding the daily struggles of our people and children’s struggle for education has shattered my mind and heart. Children in rural Mamfe are out of school and those whose parents have relatives in Mamfe town have sent their children there for them to have whatever education they can have. Many government primary schools in Mamfe town are not yet open and some unregulated community schools have emerged with no defined curriculum. Those teaching in these schools have no training  and the class sizes are unfortunately not the best. A family member whom I had sent to study the situation of things in those community schools has intimidated that there could be as many as 90 students in each class in those make-shift structures which are unfortunately bereft of good sanitation and ventilation. It breaks my heart that so many years are going by and the children in rural areas of Southern Cameroons are not being given the education  that can enable them walk away from ‘perpetual darkness’. It is painful to see six-year-old kids being separated from their parents just because they have to go to school in town. These parents do not even have the means to support themselves because of the war, how can they support their children in town?

I think those living abroad are not aware of the magnitude of the issues facing these rural children. Even those who go to towns to school have to deal with sexual and physical violence. There is nobody to actually supervise and protect these children and unwanted pregnancies are popping up all over the two English-speaking regions of the country, as girls become both financially and physically helpless. Something needs to be done to save the rural child in Southern Cameroons. If violence is on the rise today in that part of the country just after five years, what will it be after ten years? Keeping our children at home is one mistake that will come back to haunt all of us. Those who thought that using children as a bargain chip in the dispute against the government never new they were manufacturing a bomb which will hurt so many people once it goes off. There is a need for a rethink of strategy. What is happening in rural Mamfe is exactly what obtains in the entire Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Concord News: So what needs to be done?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: Like I have said above, there is a need for a rethink of the  war strategy. The government like the fighters have to take a look at their strategies to ensure that those children do not get left in  the darkness of ignorance because of a conflict they know nothing about. Our children’s education should be decoupled from the struggle to enable our children return to school. Keeping these children at home for a long time only robs them of their future and confidence. I am also urging people of good will to send as much material support as possible to those community schools which are seeking to impart some knowledge to our children. Those schools are not properly equipped to deal with many educational challenges. They need financial support to help the students. Any assistance in this regard will be appreciated. For my part, I am in touch with some education  authorities in Mamfe, and my organization, the Global Think Tank for Africa, will be offering books and other supplies worth CFAF 500,000 over the next three months to students in various schools in Mamfe town. My organization will also be granting scholarships to young girls in Manyu Division to enable them get an education. The modalities for the scholarships will be released in the days ahead. We need to do things differently if the future has to be bright for many of our children. It is education that opened many huge doors for me and I want other children to enjoy the fruits of a sound education.

Cameroon Concord News: Do you think your plea will be heard by the government and the fighters?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: I don’t think the government and the fighters will forever be deaf and dumb. The government is aware of the storm that is building as a result of millions of children sitting at home instead of being in school. The fighters, for their part, understand that keeping children at home is not  a genuine bargaining chip. After five years, they should understand that the children should be in school and not at home. Some of the fighters have children. What will become of those children if the school boycott remains in place. While I agree that the government has allowed a small disagreement to snowball, I would also like to point out that those who engineered the revolution did not have a long term view of things. It is preposterous to shoot yourself in the foot. Keeping our children at home is like shooting ourselves in the foot.

However, all is not lost. Now that some of the factions have begun talking to each other, we can assume that there is hope in the offing. The Toronto Retreat, which will be followed by many others, holds out a lot of hope. Talking is a very important first step and I am urging the secessionists, the federalists, and the government to walk away from their positions so that a middle ground can be established. While the talks may be holding, the various factions should come out forcefully to underscore their commitment to the education of our children. The government can start putting in place confidence-building measures like granting a general amnesty to all those who have been directly or indirectly involved in the struggle. It can also use diplomatic channels to engage the various factions as a means of facilitating the talks and negotiations. There is a lot to be done, but we have to start somewhere. No war has ever ended without the various factions talking to each other. That is, of course, the best way to ensure that errors of the past do not rear their ugly heads in the future.

Cameroon Concord News: Thank you, Dr. Joachim Arrey, for your insightful thoughts.

Dr. Joachim Arrey: It is always a pleasure to share my thoughts with your readers