Coronavirus Crisis : Alternative Educational, Training Methods

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Government is taking alternative learning measures and plans to readjust the educational and examinations calendars.

The Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute has assured Cameroonians that there will be no blank school year in the country this 2020 because of the restrictive measures the President of the Republic, Paul Biya has taken to fight the Coronavirus.

Speaking during a video conference in his residence in Yaounde on April 3, 2020, he said the Head of State does not want a blank school year as he wants classes to take place, children write examinations and they are corrected.

While doing all these, PM Dion Ngute stressed the fact that priority should be to safeguard the lives of the population. The Prime Minister enjoined Ministers to forward to him their proposed alternative actions this week. He said the restrictive measures may be extended depending on the situation of the pandemic.

In the video conference ministers of the educational sector, professional training and the organisation of public service recruitment examinations presented the state of affairs in their different ministries and the alternative measures taken to ensure continuity of classes while waiting for the coronavirus pandemic to be handled.

Ministers who intervened included those of Higher Education, Basic Education, Secondary Education, Employment and Vocational Training, Public Service and Administrative Reform and Posts and Telecommunications.

Alternative Measures

The alternative measure that cuts across in all the levels of the educational sector, the ministers concerned explained, is distant learning instituted to respect the social distancing instruction. Beginning from this week, the Ministry of Basic Education will start giving lessons to pupils writing the First School Leaving Certificate and “Certificat d’Etudes primaires” over the CRTV radio.

The Minister of Secondary Education, Nalova Lyonga said the ministry was using all media to keep the students learning. E-learning, online classes, digitalising training and interactive platforms are used in the higher educational and professional training sectors.

Concerning examinations, especially end-of-course examinations, the alternative measure is that there will be readjustments in the calendars following the evolution of the battle against coronavirus. Consequently, there will be the extension of the third term with catch-up classes organized.

The Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reform, Joseph LE talking about the various public service recruitment examinations, stated that there will be readjustments in the programming for those of 2020.

He said that for examinations such as that of translators whose results for the written part have been published pending the oral part, everything will take place. Candidates would be shared in groups of 50 for the orals. He also said for the written part of the public service examinations in general, many sites will be requisitioned.