Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon
The Cameroon General Certificate of Education Board, fondly referred to as the GCE Board is twenty years old and there is need for celebrations. In the sidelines of the celebrations, the management of the Board has once more re-echoed their wish to protect the English subsystem of education in Cameroon. Humphrey Ekema Monono, Registrar of the GCE Board made the declaration at a press conference, Friday, October 22 2013 to kick start the 20th anniversary activities and opening of their new head office in Molyko, Buea, adjacent the Bilingual Grammar School.
Humphrey Ekema Monono Registrar, Cameroon GCE Board
The Board’s Registrar said they will uphold the English subsystem of education in Cameroon by standing up to the challenge of their motto, which is measuring learning with honesty. “We will work honestly at the Board and ensure that corruption, embezzlement are not part of our business,” he mentioned.
Monono said after the Prime Ministerial Decision that created the Board in July 1993, the institution has come a long way, describing the twenty years as a journey
Registrar, Cameroon GCE Board, Humphrey Ekema Monono, fielding questions from the press
full of successes and challenges. He will give a vivid account of the humble beginning of the Board, which started with the organisation and assessment of the GCE Ordinary and Advanced Levels examinations respectively, which today, is confidently organising and assessing other examinations.
A delighted Monono said after twenty years, when they started at a modest setting at IPAR, Buea, subsequently moved to a rented building, today, the
Press women & men at the conference
Board is lodged in their own building thanks to support from the people and government of Cameroon.
According to Monono, the Board now has a legacy that they can bequeath to mankind, where other innovations and studies will continue. “I am a proud Registrar to manage some of the challenges that the Board has gone through, from 23,000 to 150,000 candidates today and even more tomorrow. We have moved from manual inputs to electronic inputting of data, we are doing research with international partners, we are learning in the process and making the certificates of the GCE Board a veritable international currency worth the weight in gold across the world,” he said.
The third Registrar of the Board, after Mr Andrew Azong Wara and Dr Omer Weyi Yembe(deceased), called on all to be part of the 20th anniversary celebrations, saying it is historic. “We are inviting the public to be honest and frank with the Board, help the Board focus on its path of revolution, even after the current management and staff would have been gone.” He challenged the conservatives to see that the world is evolving, justifying the need for Multiple Choice Questions, MCQs, E-registration, online registration, the modification of testing principles and the increase of the number of subjects.
Monono said the Board is looking at taking their candidates to face the challenges in the international scene and contributing to the emergence of Cameroon. He will add that during his tenure as the President of AEAA in 2010, they introduced the Items Response Theory, which is about employing the ICT to test candidates. “This theory is being used in some countries across the African continent. The world is evolving; Cameroon must not be left out. The computer is no longer a taboo. The challenges of inadequate power, energy and infrastructure may be there, but we must move on,” he advised.
On the absence of a printing press for the Board, Monono responded that it is a preoccupation for the management and a project is on course, which is expected to come to fruition in 2016. He said the second and third wings of the Board, whose construction are due takeoff in 2014 will house the technical and printing facilities of the Board.
On how beneficial are the international meetings, attended by the staff of the Board in recent years, the Registrar replied; “The staff are not sleeping, we are going abroad for capacity building and coming back with knowledge.”
The 20th anniversary activities of the Board, which opened Friday, November 22 2013 will have its high point on Thursday, November 28 2013 with the official inauguration of the head office by the Minister of Secondary Education, Louis Bapes Bapes, an inter-religious service for the dedication of the headoffice, the recognition of some dignitaries and award of labour medals.
