Akwo John Eyoh, Divisional Delegate of Secondary Education for Meme.

“An old broom in the secondary education sector”

Recently described as an old broom in Secondary Education in the South West Region of Cameroon, Akwo John Eyoh who presently holds the post of Divisional Delegate of Secondary Education for Meme Division in the South West Region was born some 59 years ago in Kurume in Konye Sub Division though his village of origin is Kokobuma still in the Konye Sub Division.

Akwo John Eyoh giving keynote address at the 2016 Secondary Education Sector Conference at GTHS Kumba

 He attended primary school partly in Native Authority; N.A. School in Korume, Basel Mission School Mballangi and rounded up in Sacred Heart School Fiango where he obtained the First School Leaving Certificate.

For Secondary Education, he moved on to Bishop Rogan College (Minor Seminary) in 1970 where he did five years and obtained the General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level in 1975. He later moved on to Cameroon College of Arts and Science CCAS Kumba where he put in two years from 1975 to 1977 and obtained the General Certificate of Education A Levels. It should be recalled that the GCE Ordinary Level he wrote was the last version of the London GCE marked in England. The A levels he wrote was the Cameroon GCE marked in England.

After the GCE A Levels, he moved on to the University of Yaounde which was the lone university at the time. There he enrolled at the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences and after three years he obtained a BA Degree in History with Sociology as a Minor.

At the time employment was not too easy to come by and most graduates at the time applied for employment. He did the same and was recruited as a teacher in 1980 and sent to C.E.S D’Ambam which is now found in the South Region in what is today called the Ntem Valley. In this place which is considered his Baptism of fire, he spent about nine years. From there Akwo John Eyoh was transferred to Government Secondary School Nyasoso where he spent three years and was then transferred to CCAS Kumba in 1991. After a year at CCAS he was transferred to GSS Mbongo Bamuso after which he had a break.

He was admitted into the second cycle of the Higher Teacher Training College Known in its French abbreviation as ENS Ecole Normal Sperieur Yaounde.  After two years he came out from there with a DIPES II which in English stands for a Higher Teaching Certification Diploma in History. After this, he was posted to CCAS Kumba once more. Two years after this, he was appointed Principal and sent to GTTC Kumba at the time. This institution is now known as GBTTC. Here he spent three years under the watchful eyes of his boss at the time Mr Fontem Lawrence who was fondly called Emperor. After three years, he was appointed the Divisional Delegate of National Education for Meme.

His first appointment as the a Divisional Delegate saw him spending four years in Kumba before being moved to Kupemanenguba in 2004 in the same capacity. In December that same year, the Ministry was split into two different Ministries viz; Basic and Secondary Education. However, he was asked to stay on in Bangem and manage the two ministries while waiting for new personnel to be appointed. 

Akwo John Eyoh seen marching here alongside Chief Sabas Atem and Mayor Abako Makia of Kumba I 

A hugely successful Teacher's Day celebrations in which the Divisional Delegate contributed enormously in its success in Meme

On August 6, 2005, he was appointed Divisional Delegate of Secondary Education for Kupe Manenguba; a newly created post. As a pioneer Divisional Delegate for Secondary Education, he spent 10 years there. It is only in 2015 that he left following his appointment as Divisional Delegate of Secondary Education for Meme with seat in Kumba. 

He took up seat in Kumba on the 12^th of January 2015.

As regards his religious background, he puts it in his own words in the following manner: “I was born in a Presbyterian family in those days called Basel Mission. My father was a Christian of the Basel Mission. He actually went and did his Teacher Training in Nyasoso at the Presbyterian Teacher Training College in Nyasoso where he graduated in a year that I can’t really remember at the moment. I had the misfortune of not knowing my father too well because he died in 1967 just when I was about to finish Primary School. But when I eventually came to Kumba to stay with my father’s eldest sister, she was Catholic and that’s how I became a Catholic Christian. She was a very devoted Christian who never missed Church for any reason even when she was very sick. She always found time strength and reason to go to Church. As such we went to church every morning with her at the Five Thirty Mass. Along the line, I was Baptised in 1965 and became a Mass Servant and I was in Church every day of the week from Sunday to Sunday. I developed a very close relationship with the Reverend Fathers of Fiango which was the only Parish at the time. All the Reverend Fathers who came to Kumba stayed at Fiango and they would like to say Mass on Saturday Morning and I was always there. Along the line, a good friend of mind Epah Fidelis Elad got himself into Bishop Rogan College and that dragged me along. Even though we can call that the early years, the kind of Christian life I got there was unique. There was a special way of doing things and a special way of looking at life has had a wonderful effect on my way of looking at things. Since then I have remained a Catholic Christian.”

           Culturally, he explains that he grew up to have a special eye for

           culture due to the close attachment that his dad had for culture. There is as such a special soft spot in him when it comes to culture. In 1999 he was offered the title Kwo which simply means next to the chief. He as such was given a cap traditionally called a wullah. This is a woven feathered cap given by the tribe during the cultural jamboree which held in Korome Village in Aprile 1999. This was in recognition of one of the things he and a good number of others had been doing for the tribe.

He puts his political life in the following words: “As far back as 1985 I have always admired politics and when I got back to Kumba in 1991 when I was transferred to CCAS Kumba, I found myself joining the train. Sometimes when you don’t do politics, the politics will do you. When you also sit back and you see the way some people handle the politics of the people you begin to feel that maybe if you join efforts and sat down together round the table or by the fire side, a good number of things may come out of it. That’s what I have always had in my mind but I don’t believe in violence and conflicts because there can be no joy in all of that. I was elected the first Secretary General of the newly created Meme III Section in Konye. We ran for five years and after reorganization I became Vice President from 2007 but when interests came in and people thought that for one reason or the other I shouldn’t be the person some wrangling came in and for the sake of the party I thought it wise to keep myself by the sidelines. Recently however with the re-organisation and where I stay in Kosala Meme I B, friends whom I had known since 1962 came and said dear friend don’t stay away. Come and join. So I am one of the auditors of Meme I B Section hoping that I will be able to contribute my own small thing to the growth of the Party and the Community.”

To get a tip of an iceberg with regards to the way this educationist from the South West Region of Cameroon reacts to his job, just read the speech he made during the Secondary Sector Conference in Meme Division below.

Keynote address Presented by the Divisional Delegate of Secondary Education, Akwo John Eyoh, on the occasion of the First Secondary Education Sector Conference for Meme Division for the 2015/2016 Academic year, Holding at the Government Technical High School, Kumba, on Friday 18th September, 2015.

-The Senior Divisional Officer for Meme;
– The Divisional Officer for Kumba III;
– The Honourable Members of the House of Senate;
– The Honourable Member of the House of Parliament, Kumba;
– The Mayors of Kumba I,II and III;
– The Divisional Delegate of Basic Education;
– Divisional Pedagogic Advisers and Divisional Chiefs of Service;
– Principals of Colleges;
Chairpersons of School Management Boards and PTA Presidents;
– Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
With just a few days into the 2015/2016 academic year, we the top-brass of Secondary Education in Meme Division are gathered here in our annual rendezvous to bid farewell to the 2014/2015 academic year, a year that ran its full circle and officially usher in the 2015/2016 academic year. It is an annual rendezvous set aside for us to take stock, brain storm and lay down strategies and guidelines to enable us embrace the new academic year with the expected impetus. Moreover, we are very much aware that this new academic year is being ushered in during a period of very serious security concerns, brought about by the threat from Boko Haram.
This situation of course calls for special measures to ensure that our very vulnerable teaching / learning milieu is spared the spectre of terrorism. From all indications therefore, our task for the day is quite an arduous one, especially considering the raison d’être of our annual gathering which this time around has been made more complex by the special security context cited above. We shall be expected to come out with well thought out strategies that should guarantee an incident free academic year and respect the goals set by hierarchy. It is then our objective to throw away all forms of distraction and invest all our energies in fruitful deliberations that will make this forum a veritable take-off point for a successful 2015/2016 academic year.

The Senior Divisional Officer
Dear Colleagues
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
Secondary Education has always enjoyed a special privilege from the highest Administrative Authority of Meme Division by having the Senior Divisional Officer himself always preside at our key launchings. Permit me use this occasion to appreciate this special concern for us. We want to salute in a very special way your presence here in our midst today, your very tight schedule notwithstanding, which has given our annual rendezvous a lot of meaning especially given the special context mentioned above. It is very obvious Mr. Senior Divisional Officer, that as we shall be plodding on through the academic year, it will be very necessary that there exist a more constant synergy between our services, spread out in every nook and corner of the Division and the Administrative arms directly under your authority to guarantee maximum protection of all personnel involved in the teaching / learning process.
Permit me also to warmly appreciate the presence of Service Heads and colleagues of related services who have shelved their duties to join us in our annual endeavour dedicated to seeking better ways and or result oriented strategies and guidelines intended to make our teaching / learning in the Division more positive.
May I equally seize this occasion to congratulate my collaborators and colleagues who have been newly appointed or maintained in office. Permit me to thank hierarchy on your behalf for the confidence reposed in you, and equally to remind you that this opportunity that has been offered you is for you to contribute your quota in the noble task of nation building. In this light, your office or school should not be considered as family inheritance (personal property) but as your place of work which you must pledge to make better than you met.

Could we at this point, honor the memory of those of our colleagues and students who passed away into eternity in the course of the year. May the almighty grant them eternal rest.
The Senior Divisional Officer
Dear Colleagues
Ladies and Gentlemen
For us to be able to shape the 2015/2016 academic year towards improved performance, we must be able to build on the ashes of the 2014/2015 academic year. Thus a retrospective look at our actions in all the domains during the 2014/2015 academic year will enable us identify our successes and failures, and thus help us to orientate our efforts during this forum to enable us come up with strategies and guidelines for greater achievements this 2015/2016 academic year.
Ladies and Gentlemen
For the 2014/2015 academic year, the school map of the Division stood as follows:
– Total number of schools( both government and private) = 93
– Total Number of students in these schools = 38.617
– Total number of teachers = 1.458
– Total number of Administrative Staff = 349.
As concerns activities carried out, a lot was done in the administrative, Pedagogic, Finance and Co-curricular domains:
In the Administrative domain
– Personnel of the Divisional Delegation closely monitored the re-opening of the academic year to ensure that schools effectively re-opened on the first day with teaching and learning effective.
– The Divisional Delegation organized two concertations meetings for all principals of public and private schools to discuss problems inherent in the running of the schools.
– The Divisional Delegate visited some schools to attend to very salient issues that came up, especially as concerned discipline.
In the Area of Pedagogy
The lone Divisional Pedagogic Adviser carried out an impressive number of inspection visits to schools to check on the regularity of time-tables, schemes of work, distribution of work load, effective classroom teaching etc.
– A number of seminars were organized at the Divisional Level by subject associations to provide the teachers with knowledge on the new trends in teaching, notably the Competence Based Approach (CBA)
As concerns Finances
– A sustained effort was made by the Divisional Delegation to ensure a transparent management of school finances, especially as concerned the collection, keeping and spending of the money.
– The Divisional Delegate organised a meeting with PTA Presidents to reiterate Ministerial instructions on the collection, banking (keeping) and disbursement of funds.
Concerning Examinations
– Schools successfully tested their students through sequential evaluation through the three terms of the school year.
– The Divisional Delegation managed the 2015 end of course and certificate examination organised by DECC, OBC and GCE Board almost hitch free (Analyses of results have been presented in a separate document evaluating the general results of the Division).
In the domain of Co-curricular Activities
– The Divisional Service of Sports and Co-curricular Activities visited schools to sensitize the students and their teachers on life threatening pandemics like cholera, HIV/AIDS and EBOLA and the importance of personal hygiene to check on the availability of hygiene and sanitation facilities and water.
– The Division successfully organised the Divisional Finals of FENASCO League A Games, and participated in the Regional finals occupying the second position in the overall classification. At the National Level, one of our schools, GTTTC Kumba, won gold for the Region.
The Senior Divisional Officer
Distinguished Guests
Dear Colleagues
The picture painted above may lead colleagues who are narrow-minded and admirers of complacency to sit back with a false feeling of satisfaction. While it is obvious from the picture above, that we did actually make a good number of things happen positively in our schools last 2014/2015 academic year, it is equally clear that a good number of set-backs helped to water-down our achievements. Chief amongst these included:
– The deliberate non-respect of official deadlines in the submission of periodic documents, or the non-submission at all of these documents.
– The very evident lukewarm attitude of most school heads towards the implementation of new disciplines and new syllabuses, especially the Competence Based Approach (CBA).
– The collection of unauthorized levies notably in some of our public schools, though very strictly proscribed by hierarchy.
– The very poor execution of PTA sponsored projects with the apparent complicity of our school heads.
– The absence of or calculated neglect of libraries, laboratories, workshops, science kits and other very important didactic facilities, very important essentials in teaching / learning.
– The deliberate positioning of Administrative activities and other minor concerns as top priority to the detriment of pedagogy, relegated here to second place, and the luke warmness with which the doubtful assiduity or total absenteeism of some teachers are treated.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The theme of the 2015/2016 academic year is “Professionalisation of Teaching for the Education of Citizens Capable of Sustaining Growth.” The theme invites the teacher to be able to assist the learner in acquiring knowledge, competence and life skills, through the performing of useful and practical tasks. It also implies that the new disciplines which will empower our students both mentally and morally and make them very useful in our society should be given their rightful place.
But, the theme equally implies that the teacher, whose duty it is to teach professionally, must himself be a professional. Therefore, there is need to provide some form of professional competence to the vast majority of teachers in our schools who are non-professionals in pedagogic seminars. For the professionally trained teachers, there will equally be need for seminars to enable them catch up with the new trends, especially as concerns the Competence Based Approach (CBA).
The Divisional Pedagogic Advisers are thus charged with the responsibility of ensuring that these pedagogic days hold.
Dear Colleagues
Ladies and Gentlemen
At this point in time, let me seize this opportunity on behalf of the Secondary Education Family of Meme Division, to pay deserved homage to our valiant soldiers who are defending our territorial integrity against unprovoked aggression from the terrorist group Boko Haram. We should complement their sacrifice by being very vigilant and working in very close collaboration with the administration and the forces of law and order.
Dear Colleagues, as we prepare to leave from here after the conference, let us remember that it is our bounding duty to ensure that we succeed in registering greater success this 2015/2016 academic year. And this can only be possible if we work together as a team with a sense of purpose and direction knowing that failure to succeed will be disastrous to us as individuals and to the nation as a whole. Therefore, we can’t afford to fail.
Once more, I welcome all of you here present and wish you all a wonderful time with us.
Long live the Divisional Delegate of Secondary Education, Meme
Long live the Regional Delegate of Secondary Education, South West
Long live the Ministry of Secondary Education
Long live the Republic of Cameroon.

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