Ako Sub Division “orphaned” in the Recruitment of 3200 Basic Education Teachers in Cameroon

No teacher of basic education has been recruited in Ako Sub Division, Donga Mantung Division in the North West of Cameroon in the recent recruitment carried out by the Ministry of basic education.

According to Lakbub Frida Menyong, Inspector of basic education in Ako Sub Division “I’m really surprised that no teacher has been recruited by the government from the list I forwarded to Yaounde. There were some candidates (teachers) that I was really sure of their recruitment given their age and when they graduated from teachers training college but to my greatest surprise that has not been case”.

Questioned on the situation of teachers/pupils ratio in primary and nursery schools in Ako Sub Division, Lakbub Frida Menyong says “there are many schools without sufficient trained teachers. Because of government’s delay in recruiting teachers in basic education, many graduates from GTTC in the area have decided to teach in secondary schools around to have some money but I convinced them to go back to primary and nursery schools to facilitate their recruitment. Despite this, I am really disappointed that they have not been recruited”.

She has denied allegations from some elites of Ako Sub Division of inserting names of teachers from different Sub Divisions on the list of those she forwarded to Yaounde for recruitment. To an elite of Mbembe Ako Sub Division speaking to Mimi Mefo Info on the basis of anonymity, “what these Inspectors of basic education sent to Ako over the years do is that they get names of people from different places during recruitment and replace them with those in the Sub Division. I am not surprised that no one has been recruited. This is really unfortunate and i think government needs to do something about this”.

To Nkwai Godlove Nkanya, Mayor of Ako council “the recruitment was unavoidably disappointing and distressing. Elementary schools are spread out in every single village and ignoring an entire Sub Division of 48 primary schools and ten nursery schools has far reaching consequences”.

To the Inspector of basic education, she nurses hope that holders of ‘CAPIEM’ certificate in Ako Sub Division will be recruited during the second and third phases of recruitments to be carried by the government later this year and early next year.
While Lakbub Frida Menyong waits for the next recruitment, the Mayor of Ako council thinks the future of kids can be jeopardised with such a recruitment that neglects an entire Sub Division. To Nkwai Godlove Nkanya “The situation shows how much work needs to be done to bring the municipality to order. I am grateful to the Governor of the North West Region and Dr. Fuh Calistus Gentry who have taken up the issue to places where this can be fixed. Hopefully, something will be done”.

Beside the issue of failing to recruit even a teacher in Ako Sub Division by the Ministry of basic education, students and pupils in schools in Buku, Akwaja, Mbande, Nzibie, Ako Town, Dumbo and many others in the Sub Division lament that teachers of both primary and secondary schools posted in the area sooner or later abandon their work and resettle in urban places while still harvesting money from the government.

Mimi Mefo Info.