Over 282,200 candidates begin GCE written phase today.

The candidates will be writing the GCE General and Technical in both the Ordinary and Advanced Levels. Ahead of the start of the exams, the Cameroon GCE Board has been working tooth and nail to ensure a hitch-free examination session. 

It should be noted that since the crisis in the North West and South West Regions, which morphed into an armed conflict sparked, with separatists calling for school boycotts, the number of candidates who sat the GCE dropped drastically. 

However, in the recent editions of the exams, the number of candidates has been improving. Statistics made available by the GCE Board Registrar, Dang Akuh Dominic, indicate that this year, a total of 282,224 candidates have registered for the various examinations. This is slightly less than the 2022 overall figure.

The Littoral Region still tops the chart with slightly over 44,000 candidates, followed by the Centre and South West Regions, with slightly over more than 42,000 candidates each.

In the meantime, the North West Region, with less than 28,000 candidates, has the most remarkable increase in the 2023 GCE registration statistics. 

Meanwhile, the GCE Board, headed by Dang Akuh Dominic as Registrar, has been making strides to solidify the English sub-system of education.

One of such strides is the drawing up of new syllabuses for Anglophone Intermediate and Advanced Vocational and Technical Education.

This was on November 8 to 12, 2022, at the Head Office of the GCE Board in Buea after mobilising 315 experts who worked in 54 Subject/Specialty Panels.

It was at the behest of the Minister of Secondary Education, Prof Nalova Lyonga, who is keen and determined to provide the English Sub-system of Education with solid technical and vocational education. 

Analysts say this is a landmark achievement for the Registrar and his team.

Other measures by the GCE Board to improve its performance is the creation of a reliable software to manage the examination system such that work is done without hitches and in record time.

In order to continuously upgrade standards, ensure reliability and credibility and make its exams candidate-friendly, the Registrar has caused many subject panels to review their syllabuses, giving them a professional twist and fine-tuning them to reflect the exigencies of the global job market.

More inclusive examinations

It should also be noted that with technical support from Cameroon Baptist Convention’s SEED programme, the GCE Board’s examinations have become more inclusive, satisfying the needs of physically challenged candidates. 

The Board has also trained examiners in each discipline to adequately handle such candidates. 

Despite the hikes in prices in recent times, especially concerning ink and paper, the Board has been able to run exams successfully. 

Nonetheless, these strides recorded by the GCE Board have not been without challenges.

The Board has not been able to pay out-of-station allowances to examiners immediately they finish the marking exercise. 

Achieving this, educationists say, will be phenomenal. Government subsidies, they suggest “should be increased and delivered on time for the Board to achieve this”. 

Though the Board has been able to check fraud and leakages with the stringent strategies adopted, it is yet to completely wipe out these as seen in the cancellation of subject results of some candidates in the past. 

Observers say any compromise here will tarnish the Board's credibility, something, they say, its officials “will never tolerate”.