Minister Nalova launches second intelligent classroom in GHS Limbe.

It is a move that underscores government's increasingly urgent push to wire the country's Secondary Schools into the digital age. 

South West Region Governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai, described the ‘intelligent classroom’ as a facility "built to meet the challenges of the 21st century". 

GHS Limbe, with over 2,071 students, joins a select group of schools in Cameroon equipped with the cutting-edge infrastructure, which Governor Okalia Bilai confirmed is only the second of its kind in the country, made possible through "the fruitful partnership between Cameroon and the Commonwealth of Nations". 

Addressing the school administration and teachers, the Governor stressed that the facility is not the exclusive property of GHS Limbe. 

"This structure is not the property of GHS Limbe...it is open to students from other schools, a deliberate design choice that maximises the classroom's reach across the community,” Okalia said. 

Furthermore, he reminded the minister that the other Divisions of the South West Region are keenly watching and hoping to receive their own intelligent classrooms in due course.

On her part, the school's Principal, Kale Singe Mary Namondo, described it as "a pedagogic jewel that will shape young minds across the Region". She pledged that the school community would treat the infrastructure "with the reverence it deserves, by ensuring its long-term maintenance so that it can train young people for generations". 

Prof Nalova Lyonga, on her part, highlighted the need for Africa in general and Cameroon in particular not to be left behind in the global digital race.

"The first world or the developed world cannot be talking about robots, AI and electric cars, and all of that; while we, in Africa, are not...if we don't talk about it now, when shall we talk about it?," she  questioned.

Addressing concerns by teachers about digital technology displacing educators, the minister was equally blunt in her reassurance and her warning. 

"This thing has not come to replace those who are teachers. It has come to enhance the skills of those who are teaching. But they should know that anybody who doesn't know AI or have computer knowledge is going to be replaced by someone who knows them. So, knowing both IA and computer knowledge is a must. We don't even have a choice," she stated.

The minister also revealed that the choice of Yaounde in the Centre Region and Limbe in the South West Region, is a deliberate strategy to include French-speaking and English-speaking areas of Cameroon, to ensure that the digital dividend crosses Cameroon's linguistic divide simultaneously.

The ‘intelligent classroom’ initiative reiterates government’s view of digital education, not as a luxury or a distant aspiration, but as an immediate imperative. 

Observers however say, with only two ‘intelligent classrooms’ operational in the entire country, the gap between ambition and reality remains wide.

The daylong visit was also an opportunity for the minister to visit Government Bilingual Technical High School Isokolo and Government Bilingual High School Limbe, where she launched the practical session of this year's Sports and Physical Education examinations for CAP and BACC candidates.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3786 of Monday May 11, 2026