PEATTU Petitions Gov’t to Stop Rampant Creation of Schools

Benjamin Ngah in Bamenda

              The National Executive Committee of the  Presbyterian Education Authority Teachers’ Trade Union- PEATTU has called on government to limit or suspend the rampant creation of schools across the country. The call was made during the PEATTU statutory meeting which took place on Saturday 14 February, 2014 at the unions head office here in Bamenda. According to the appeal they asked government to rather concentrate on the recruitment and training of more teachers, building and equipping of the existing schools, stepping up of subventions for schools of the private sector and ensuring that the teaching and learning condition in schools are conducive enough.

            The creation of schools in Cameroon up till now has been considered by many as political compensation to supporters of the regime. This is so because some parts of the country are inundated with primary and secondary. Most of these school can hardly boost of any infrastructure, talk less of the teaching staff. In certain cases, every subdivision here in the North West, every quarter or family seems to have a “school.” In some of the so called schools children study under the trees and taught by amateurs.

             Another appeal to government was the restructuring of the curriculum of the Cameroon educational system to meet up with the present day challenges. This according to PEATTU could only be done through the convening of an education forum void of politics, during which pertinent issues would be discussed by stakeholders as was propagated by the late CATTU scribe Simon Nkwenti.

            The National Ececutive Committee of PEATTU also took a firm stand to pursue its anti corruption drive and root out corruption in all its forms in the PCC school system despite threats from diverse quarters both to the executive members and the president in particular. The union therefore reiterated its proposal for the putting in place of a career profile for workers. This would be one of the solutions to rein in bribery and corruption within the system.

             Rt. Rev. Fonki Samuel and Rev. Fonchang Babila who are the new Moderator and Synod Clerk respectively of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon –PCC were also congratulated for having been chosen democratically by the PCC. The meeting, which was enlarged and included PEATTU delegates on the staff of various schools, resolved to work hand in glove with the new bosses of PCC in an “atmosphere conducive for the growth and expansion of the PCC school system in particular and the church in general.” They were appreciated for the added reforms they have started implementing notably the introduction of a standardized staff appraisal form in order to better follow up performance.