MODERNISATION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

Prof Nalova Lyonga and Lord Jonathan Peter Marland brainstorm on ways to carry forward Distance Education.

This was during the audience the Minister of Secondary Education, Prof Nalova Lyonga, granted to the visiting President of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, Lord Jonathan Peter Marland, on Wednesday, 11 October 2022 at the Distance Education Centre.

During the audience, Prof Nalova Lyonga and her high-profile guest exchanged views on the support the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council could provide to the Ministry to further modernise Secondary Education through Distance Education. After giving the background of the implementation of Distance Education and the efforts made so far in this light, MINESEC Boss tabled some of the areas in which cooperation with the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council is highly expected.

These include the setting-up of ten technical and vocational digital high schools in Cameroon and the strengthening of the Distance Education Centre. With these, the Ministry of Secondary Education intends to reinforce the distance education project and promote digital trades in technical and vocational education.

This can be achieved through capacity development for teachers involved in virtual teaching as well as through the provision of infrastructures and equipment adequate for Distance Education. With 8,000 lessons prepared so far by the Distance Education Centre in just 3 years and given the high penetration rate of technology in Cameroon, the groundwork is laid for the sustainable implementation of Distance Education.

Lord Jonathan Peter Marland congratulated Prof Nalova Lyonga for putting in place the Distance Education Centre to embrace the revolution imposed in learning by the Covid-19 outbreak. He further acknowledged the challenge of educating and generating skills for the massive younger generation, especially in the Commonwealth, where 60 percent of the Commonwealth population of 2.5 billion is under 30 years old.

The President of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council pledged to bring together the wide range of organisations and Universities his Council is cooperating with throughout the Commonwealth to address the needs and expectations of the Ministry in modernising Distance Education. For a start, MINESEC officials will have in-depth discussions on the matter with the officials of a UK-based education technology organisation who are accompanying Lord Jonathan Peter Marland.

Aimé Ngidjol

Senior Staff/CELCOM