By TALLA AGHAA CHRISTOPHER
Chiefs in the South West Region under the banner of the South West Chiefs Conference, SWECC, have added their voice to the nationwide clarion for an effective back-to-school in the South West Region.
Sitting in an extra ordinary executive conclave in Buea, Thursday July 26, 2019 under the distinguished presence of the SWECC President, HRM Chief Mafany Njie Martin, the custodians of tradition agreed that children of the Region have suffered a lot because of school shut down for almost two years and that it is high time for the children to cease from being sacrificial lambs and resume classes effectively come September, for the 2019/2020 academic year.
The Chiefs in a press statement made shortly after the meeting, appealed to Cameroonians especially those in the diaspora who instituted the school boycott in the South West Region and have since then continued to finance and encourage the ban through their local militia to unconditionally heed to their desperate cry and kindly allow suffering children pursue their education.
In order to bring everybody on board in their campaign for effective back-to-school to school, the chiefs in the communiqué enjoined all chiefs, elites and population to organise the clearing of all school premises in the South West Region in full preparation for school resumption.
The stand of SWECC is in line with other reputable organisations and institutions as well as Right campaigners who are already on the field for an aggressive back – to-School campaign.
It should be noted school shut down dates back in 2016 when teachers of the English Sub system of education embarked on a sit down strike decrying deplorable working conditions.
Since then, about 500 schools have remained closed, most especially in the rural area where kidnapping of both teachers and students is the order of the day and many schools have been razed to the ground by alleged gun men.