Recruitment of 1000 bilingual teachers: MPs Quiz Minister LE On Fate Of Unpaid Recruited Teachers

The disturbing situation of lack of service codes, delays in processing of files and nonpayment of some teachers recruited by the Ministry of Public Service and Administration Reforms, MINFOPRA, has come under review at the National Assembly. 

President Biya had in 2017 instructed the recruitment of 1000 bilingual teachers nationwide to fill the gap of bilingual teacher deficit in schools in response to the demands of Anglophone teachers at the start of the Anglophone crisis. 

Hon. Kum John Nji questioned the Minister Joseph LE on what accounts for the delay in the payment of some of the recruited candidates four years on as well as their non-attrition of service codes, delay in treatment of their files and authentication of their certificates from at the level of the ministry.

The lawmaker demanded the minister to clarify Cameroonians on the number of bilingual teachers who have so far been attributed service numbers, the fate of those whose files have not been processed and efforts been made in collaboration with other ministries in authenticating their certificates. 

Minister LE in his reply disclosed that the recruitment involved candidates drawn from 24 different technical and 10 scientific fields of study through the study of files by a technical committee that was made up of representatives of the PM office and the ministries of Employment and Vocational Training, Secondary Education, Finance and the MINFOPRA. 

He said out of the 1000 successful candidates, only 903 of them effectively assumed duty as per the January 12, 2018 deadline that was set for the exercise while those who failed to do so were replaced 18 February 2019.

LE noted that all the candidates were placed under the Ministry of Secondary Education wherein they were subsequently posted to various colleges nationwide based on priority needs of the various schools.

He said file treatment of the recruited teachers only started in 2019 and only 978 candidates submitted their files with 780 of them already given service codes.

LE revealed that those whose codes have not yet been generated are those with incomplete files especially lack of non-conviction certificates and others whose certificates are still to be authenticated. 

He disclosed that 80% of those recruited were from the two Anglophone regions while 20% came from the eight other French-speaking regions. 

By Doh Bertrand Nua