By Sah Terence Animbom
With the minister of basic education as well as the Secretary General in the Ministry of Secondary Education present in Bamenda to launch the 2018/2019 school year, a walk in Bamenda on Monday morning gave one the impression that the entire population of the town was in the heart of the Summer Holidays though it was the official day set aside for back to school in the entire country. More than ever before, quarters, streets were very empty with no sign of school reopening.
Moving from Nitob around the road leading to Mbengwi in order to assess the level of school resumption, The Sun noticed children busy idling around the houses at 7:30am with some taking task which was evident they won’t be done with early enough to get to school that same morning.
An interesting but truly sad and baffling sight was that of a group of about 12 boys all of school going age who were very consumed in playing football on a small play ground behind the mortuary of the Bamenda Regional Hospital instead of getting ready for school. The idea of school seemed to have been flushed out of their minds and it will truly take the magic of change to get them to school.
At GBHS Nitob, a school of about 1,300 students, all classrooms were boldly locked with no sign of a student on campus at 8:00am. The administrative block was open and seemed ready for business as some classily dressed women with handbags were seen heading towards the school, implying both administrative and teaching staff were ready for an effective start. At the time The Sun left the school, only a young man that looked like a student in normal clothes and a bag had entered the campus.
From GBHS Nitob, the next stop was the GMI government school complex that houses more than six primary schools. Here too, no pupil had shown up though all teachers were present and ready to take off with lessons.
Given that it was a Monday morning with threats from the North west Governor the previous week for traders not to dare respect the ghost town of this day, it was observed that both the food and main markets were locked again with not a sign of any business activity except for some women selling food stuffs along the food market road.
Also, some children accompanied their parents with bowls of avocados on their heads to sell on the lonely streets.
The commercial Avenue was even lonelier without a soul, talk less of a taxi. The Sun then went on, on foot to GBHS Down Town Bamenda where some 121 students were on Campus with only about 3 in uniform. However, some of these students received lessons as almost all the teaching staff programmed for that day were on campus. The administration was also completely present and ready for business.
From GBHS Down Town, The SUN was lucky to have a bike to UP Station at a cut throat price after trekking for one and half a kilometer due to the extreme scarcity of bikes. The Minister of basic education was due to launch the school year at Ecole Publique Les Champions while the Secretary General was due to Launch at GBHS Mendankwe.
With only 75 out of 507 pupils of the school present and accompanied by pupils from Government School Military Camp and another school, the Minister took the opportunity to congratulate the parents and teachers who braved the odds to be present there and urged them to take the message of school resumption back home to their fellow women.
The Government delegate to the Bamenda City Council in his welcome note appreciated the minister for choosing to launch the school year in the North West for the second time in two years. He also called on the North West population to shun ghost towns. With the kidnap of students and the shooting of their principal in the Presbyterian Technical Secondary School Bafut, the whole region went into fear again and the few students who had been so brave from the first day in many institutions got scared and stayed back home.
The week has been very scanty in the schools as parents and teachers gamble and ponder over what the school year will look like.