Society

Presidency recognises FEICOM for promoting bilingualism.

by Morine Tanyi
07 Feb 2024 19:25
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The Presidency of the Republic has recognised the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance, FEICOM, for its efforts in enhancing and promoting bilingualism in the country.
The certificate of recognition was awarded to the institution recently. This was within a programme carried out under the coordination of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, through the Bilingual Training Programme.

The Yaounde Pilot Linguistic Centre headed the project. The goal of the scheme was to train Cameroonians on the use of the country’s two official languages-English and French.

According to a report made public on the official social media platforms of the institution, FEICOM has for the past 10 years partnered with the Yaounde Pilot Linguistic Centre, for the training of its staff on the use of the country’s official languages. This has been both at the central and regional desks.

During the trainings, English-speaking staff learned the French language while the French-speaking staff learned English language.

To put theory into practice, staff of FEICOM are given the opportunity to carry out public service delivery in the language they understand best.

The institution, it is said, in a bid to support the efforts of the staff, has instituted the Bilingual Day which is observed every Friday of the week.

During this day, staff are encouraged to express themselves in their second language. That is, French for Anglophones and English for Francophones.

FEICOM used the opportunity to thank the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, for the recognition. Officials of the institution believe the award is a call to continue the practice of bilingualism within the organisation.

Worthy to be said is the fact that FEICOM was among some 150 recipients of such recognition. The five batches comprised those trained between 2018 and 2023.

Speaking during the ceremony, the Director of the Yaounde Pilot Linguistic Centre, Edibi Fama, recalled the resolve of the President of the Republic to promote the use of the country’s two official languages.

The centre, he said, can now boast of annex offices in all 10 Regions of the country. Fama said the Centre trains at least 20,000 citizens every year, on the country’s two official languages.