Ahead of new school year: Minister Nalova Lyonga urges teachers to guard against drug consumption in schools.

The minister gave the charge Wednesday in Yaounde. This was during a two-day annual meeting to mark the solemn reopening of the new academic year.

The gathering, held on the campus of the Government Bilingual Technical High School, GBTHS Nsam-Yaounde, was attended by key stakeholders in the education sector.

Minister Nalova Lyonga was accompanied during the meeting by the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Secondary Education in charge of Teacher Training, Boniface Bayaola. The Secretary General at the ministry, Prof Fabien Nkot, was also in attendance.

The two-day meeting which took the guise of a workshop, came less than three weeks to start of the new school year in the secondary education sector. 

Students will return to the classrooms September 9, according to a calendar unveiled by the Ministry of Secondary.

Meanwhile, speaking as she addressed the Yaounde gathering, Minister Nalova Lyonga recalled that: “Exactly one year, ago, we parted ways after completing two days of exacting work and developing solid recommendations and guidelines for the 2023/2024 academic year”.

While appreciating stakeholders for a successful academic year, the she stated that: “As tradition requires, at the beginning of the reopening of the solemn academic year, is an ideal moment to reflect on the past year’s activities and look ahead to the next year with renewed optimism”.

She rejoiced that last year’s schedule was strictly followed. The syllabi, the minister said, was fully covered while the certificate examinations “were a success to some extent”.

She regretted that “the drop in performance, especially in the Baccalaureate Generale and others, was discouraging but never the less, we have not simply sat back and done nothing. We have to rise up with more recommendations”. 

Turning to the challenges encountered during the previous academic year, Minister Nalova Lyonga cited student indiscipline as one of the real problems faced. 

“It was not only students. There is also teacher indiscipline. I have never seen teachers being so indiscipline because teachers are the most discipline people in every country,” she regretted. 

The minister said student indiscipline was uniquely preoccupying, stating that: “If we continue in that way, we are going to have the results dropping again”.

She also mentioned the problem of drug consumption, which she described as a “big problem that disturbed the smoothness of the school year”.

She said the aforementioned ills, including violence in schools, she insisted, “must be dropped through punishment but not corporal punishment”.

“We have said that we don’t want students dying. We don’t want teachers dying. You can discipline without killing the child. We have the statistics,” she said. 

The minister added that: “We are moving into the 2024/2025 academic year with new measures and attitudes. We started with digitalisation and we have to continue with digitalisation”.

Speaking earlier, the Principal of the Government Bilingual Technical High School Nsam, Halleson Mary Epse Amabo, saluted the choice of her school as host of the strategic event.

She recounted that: “Lycée Technique de Nsam is not a new school. It is 34 years old. It is now on the campus that bears its name. This school was formerly lodged in camp Sic Nlonkak…for 33 long years. Today, we are at home”.

She has thanked the Head of State for the construction of the giant campus which she described as an “outstanding gift, appropriate in infrastructure”. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3207 of Friday August 23, 2025