The Cameroon GCE Crisis: A Test of Anglophone Solidarity: A Test of Anglophone Solidarity

Preface to the First Edition

x Preface to the First Edition he attempt by the Government of Cameroon to reform the General Certificate of Education (GCE) examination in 1983 unleashed a socio-political firestorm around Anglophone minority marginalisation and co-optation. This book traces the 10 year historical trajectory of battles that were fought from 1983 to October 1993 for the preservation of the General Certificate of Education examinations in Cameroon. These battles opposed a mobilised and determined Anglophone civil society against numerous machinations by successive governments to dilute the GCE with the rather shallow Francophone secondary education system. This book has become possible thanks to Dr. Nyamnjoh. As a socio-historical project, it captures their active participation from the initial stages of the struggle to maintain the educational system they had enjoyed and did not want to see perish. In the process, Dr. Nyamnjoh kept notes, pictures and invaluable documents that today provide the basis for the authenticity of this historical account. As a librarian at the University of Yaoundé I also bore witness to the early part of the struggle. While it is difficult for anyone to claim personal victory for the final outcomes, it is necessary to salute the courage and determination of the Anglophone students of the University of Yaoundé, Missionary bodies, the Anglophone teachers of Secondary Education acting under the umbrella of the powerful Teacher's Association of Cameroon (TAC), and the parents whose efforts were channelled both individually and collectively through the Parent-Teacher Associations. It is no doubt that the culminating incident in the ten year's saga came on 12th October 1993 when well over one thousand Anglophone parents demonstrated in front of the Ministry of National Education in Yaoundé. With their determination at the zenith, they braved all odds, stood their grounds and suffered the humiliation and human degradation of being sprayed with police water cannons and thrashed with rubber truncheons. Many suffered grave injuries in the process. Simultaneous street demonstrations took place in Bamenda. On T xi that fateful 12th October, the text granting autonomy to the GCE Examination Board was signed. This book’s factual and well documented narrative will be real history tomorrow. It will be worthwhile having a copy for your library more especially so because it is no denying the fact that the story in the book is also part of the history of the struggle for the liberation of Anglophones in Cameroon. Peter N. Chateh President of CAPTAC Yaoundé Chapter Yaoundé, June 7 1994 ...