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

Chapter One - Anglophone Students of the University of Yaoundé Petition against Introduction of a New Cameroon GCE Scheme for Anglophone Schools Nation-Wide

1 Chapter One Anglophone Students of the University of Yaoundé Petition against Introduction of a New Cameroon GCE Scheme for Anglophone Schools Nation-Wide Francis B. Nyamnjoh n September 27, 1983, the Minister of National Education issued a circular restructuring the GCE at both the Ordinary and Advance levels. This reform, most unpopular and most unwanted among the Anglophones, was greatly contested. The Anglophone students of the University of Yaoundé, already overburdened by grievances and frustrations, saw this as the last straw. Their reaction was spontaneous; they came together and drew up a petition, their lack of any formal leadership notwithstanding. What follows is not only the story of a strike, but that of a people galvanised by a common objective: the resolve to save a way of life. Even though the Ministerial circular was signed on September 27, 1983, it never circulated beyond official circles until the national weekly Cameroon Tribune, decided, probably out of deserved sympathy for the affected masses, to publish the full text on Wednesday, November 16, 1983.1 But long before this date the discussions, debate and criticism provoked by the text, based mostly on rumour and half-truths, were widespread among Anglophone intellectuals and politicians. The Wednesday paper therefore came only to stimulate a more profound appraisal by the students, of the full extent and implications of the Ministerial circular. That particular issue of Cameroon Tribune, limited in supply, was passed from hand to hand as the anxious students devoured with analytic eyes, the seemingly well-intentioned words of a most responsible and honourable Minister of National Education. Their reaction was so spontaneous and collective, that in a remarkably short time a rally began to be organised under no defined leadership. As wind of the rally 1 Because of an omission by the publishers of the national daily, the Wednesday 16 issue was in fact not complete; the full text was actually published on Wednesday 23, 1983 (see Appendix 1). O 2 spread, more and more students became interested. No one seemed to ask too many questions, or to want any justification or persuasion. They simply went along, moved by the desire to shout loud and clear: “the Francophone has gone too far.” Under the creative initiative of some anonymous members of the Anglophone student body, a rally was scheduled for Saturday November 19, 1983, three days after publication of the Ministerial text, in front of the Amphitheatre 700. On Saturday afternoon a large crowd of students assembled in front of the Faculty of Letters and Social Sciences, not at the Amphi 700 as previously scheduled. There, student after student stood before the crowd and passionately volunteered to expose or remind themselves of the plight of the Anglophone students at the University of Yaoundé. Many points were raised, but two stood out: The students expressed their massive and total dissatisfaction with the Ministerial reform of the GCE; and reiterated the need for bilingualism as a de facto reality in the University, and not merely a Francophone device for sidestepping or marginalising the English language and its affiliates. That the students were bitter, full of wrath and extremely concerned was distinctly evident in their unanimous decrial of the circular and their vote of no confidence in the Minister. Still under no clear leadership at all, some individuals presented themselves as representatives of different classes in the three faculties (of arts, sciences and social sciences) of the University; and in unanimity they scheduled to meet that very night to draw up a list of pertinent objections as a petition to the Minister’s unwanted reform. It is important to remark that some of the Anglophone students who initially declined to attend the rally under the pretext that there was neither organisation nor leadership and that they had learnt about it only through hearsay, rapidly abandoned their doubts when they got wind of the resounding success of the rally. But before the rally broke off, the protesting students pledged with a oneness of voice to strategically assemble on Tuesday November 22, in front of the Ministry of Mines and Power from where they could march with their petition to the Minister of National Education, whose ministry was situated about two hundred metres away. 3 Meeting on the nights of Saturday and Sunday for long hours, the volunteers drew up a list of points bordering on two major issues. First, that the recent Ministerial effort to...