Society

Secondary Education: Gov’t transforms 23 schools in seven regions to bilingual institutions.

File photo: secondary school students in class room

The government has transformed 23 secondary schools of general education into bilingual establishments of learning.
The move to transform the general secondary schools to bilingual high schools was taken by the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Jospeh Dion Ngute through Decree N° 2024/03722 of 6 September 2024.

According to reports, the initiative is part of the national strategy to promote bilingualism and improve the quality of education throughout the country.

This decision aims to reinforce access to bilingual education across several regions of the country notably the Far North, West, Adamawa, Centre, Littoral, North and East regions.

Majority of the schools, eight in number are in the West while the Far North come second with five schools.

The decree signed by the Prime Minister stated that the actual transformation of the schools will be decided by the Ministry in charge of Secondary Education, according to the resources available.

It is worth mentioning that this decision by the government falls in line with its commitment to strengthen national integration through the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism.

This is in a bid to end the socio-political crisis rocking the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, the North West and South West regions. This commitment is reflected in the creation of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, NCPBM.

It was in this same vein that the President of the Republic promulgated Law N° 2019/019 of 24 December 2019 on the promotion of official languages in Cameroon.

The law laid emphasis on the fact that the official languages of Cameroon, English and French shall be of equal value and citizens shall be served in the public Administration in the language of their choice.

The 2019 Law reinforced section 1 sub 3 of the Constitution of Cameroons which states that the official languages of the Republic of Cameroon shall be English and French, with both languages having the same status.

The section furthered that the State shall guarantee the promotion of bilingualism throughout the country and shall endeavour to protect and promote national languages.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3228 of Friday September 13, 2024