Education: Second Term, A Crucial Bend!

Millions of young Cameroonians of basic and secondary educational levels are, today, in their second week of the second term of the Cameroon three-term school year calendar. Educationists consider this second term as crucial for teachers to cover their syllabi, for school administrators to ensure discipline, for students to keep pace with their studies, and for parents to tighten control over their offspring, 
A conjoint Ministerial Order of 19 August, 2022, framed the school year (2022-2023) to begin on 5 September, 2022 and end on 28 July, 2023. This is as far as the Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education are concerned. 
The first break of the school-year ran from 16 December, 2022 to 3 January, 2023, between first and second terms. The second break will go from 31 March, 2023 to 17 April, 2023 between second and third terms. By the authorized calendar, end-of course exams are lodged in the third term (from 15 May, 2023 through 28 July, 2023) for Basic Education and (from 17 May, 2023 through 28 May, 2023) for Secondary Education.  
Analysts liken the second term to the middle course of the race when the athlete must pump out enough resistance to keep the necessary pace to secure a good finish. Like in the first term, the academic requirement prescribes 420 hours of teaching and learning in this second term of 36 weeks. Knowledge imparting and acquisition in this term form the main pillar of the entire educational system. To keep pace with this transitional term, authorities recommend that teachers must ensure that remedial work is done immediately after evaluation. Key to this segment of learning in Cameroon is the tripod of assessment, evaluation and remedial work. 
For this standard to be achieved, the school administration must fully play its role of control to ensure discipline for both teachers and learners. For example, late coming, absenteeism, and laxity are among the vices to be discouraged on the part of students and teachers alike. Equally, the school milieu must be made safe from perpetrators of violence, consumers of drugs and anti-learning individuals. Public strife, too, has on many occasions, constituted a drawback to smooth school attendance notably on political and social spheres. That area, also, should be shielded to preserve educational endeavours.    
At a time when the State is investing a total of FCFA 715.440 billion to run both Basic and Secondary Education in 2023, it becomes a national concern to realize the objective of having young Cameroonians acquire quality learning. Such will ensure that the nation remains afloat with standards and morals necessary for the required civic life of the country. The moulding of citizens begins from school that is why tax payers will be contributing that heavy sum to advance the education of young citizens who constitute the future in Cameroon for progress.
The State, in running education, has clearly shared out responsibilities and placed it at various levels in both Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education. The relevant strata of answerable officers in the Ministries rest with Secretaries General. In that ladder, it climbs down to Inspectors General of Services, Inspectors General of Education, Inspectors Coordinator General, Directors in the Central Administration, the Director of Office du Baccalaureat, the Registrar of the GCE Board, National Secretaries of Private Education, Regional Delegates of Education, Divisional Delegates of Education, Education Secretaries, Subdivisional Inspectors of Education, Principals and Head Teachers and parents of pupils and students. This apparently long list is not a vain citation, but a pointer to the various degrees of accountabilities incumbent on the education society in Cameroon. 
It appears necessary to highlight the role of education as a system in a society, in a democracy and in the nation. Educationists put it in general that “education gives everyone a chance to acquire new knowledge and learn soft skills that will help them improve their life”. It is, so to speak, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for humans to reach their desired aspirations. The time for this opportunity is long but segmented into levels of basic, secondary, and higher learning. A scientist once noted that; “Man, unlike physically stronger ...