Otu David Orock, the principal of GTTTC Kumba

Otu David Orock is indisputably one of those people who has done a lot to push things forward as far as Technical Education in English speaking Cameroon is concerned. Born on July 20, 1968 in Eyumujock Sub Division to Samuel Otu Ayuk and Adina Oben Otu, he attended primary school at CBC Ewelle and Government School Ajayukndip all in the Eyumujock Sub Division.

His quest for Secondary School Education took him to VOCAST Muyuka in 1980. He however shifted to the legendary Government Technical College Ombe in the Tiko Municipality where he studied from 1981 to 1985. He eventually obtained his Baccalaureat in Government Technical High School Kumba.

His pursuit for Higher Education took him to the Higher Technical Teacher Training College known in its French acronym as ENSET in Douala.

It is constantly said and with justification that hard work can hardly ever completely go unnoticed. As a Chief of Works appointed from Government Technical High School Nkambe to Government Technical High School Alabukam in Bamenda, he received the following Honorary Awards: The most assiduous staff of GTC Alabukam Mankon in the 2006-2007 Academic Year awarded by the First Assistant Senior Divisional Officer for Mezam Division. He received the same award in the 2007-2008 Academic year in the same establishment and this time it was given by the Assistant Divisional Officer for Bamenda II. In the 2008-2009 Academic year, he again received the award of the most assiduous staff of Government Technical High School Alabukam Mankon in Bamenda and this was awarded by the Mayor of Bamenda II.

In society he has held a number of responsibilities in social organisations. Some of these include:

-         Secretary General of the Njeke Cultural and Development Association from 1996 to 1998.

-         Secretary General cum Financial Secretary of Njeke Cultural and Development Association from 1998 to 2001.

-         Secretary General of Nkambe Staff Socials from 2001 to 2006.

-         Discipline Master of Veterans Sports Club Nkambe from 2004 to 2006.

-         Treasurer of Nkambe Civil Servants HAND IN HAND Njangi Group from 2004 to 2006.

-         Financial Secretary of Government Technical High School Alabukam Financial Solidarity Group from 2006 to 2009.

The Family Behind the man

 To have a better view of the man, an exclusive interview was carried out with this self effacing personality. This interview which was first published in Cameroon School News is again published bellow.

  “Technical Education must be at the center of things for Cameroon to emerge” 

As an educationist who exactly is Ottu David Orock?

I was a trained Technical student from the then lone Technical College in West Cameroon; Government Technical College GTC Ombe. I completed there in the year 1985 and left for Government Technical High School Kumba in the year 1985- 1986 and had Baccalaureat in the year 1989. I worked with the Analyses Department at SONARA in Limbe for a year and with Camerounais Thermique Industriel in Douala working in the Thermal Department in SONARA, Limbe. I left because I had the interest in going back to school and taught in Family Technical College Limbe for one year during which I became the Vice Principal of the school in 1990. In 1994, I left the school when I passed my entrance into Higher Technical Teacher’s Training College known in its French acronym as ENSET in Douala. Between 1994 and 1997 I had DIPED 1 and continued to obtain DIPED 2 in 1999. From there, I was sent to Government Technical High School Nkambe where I worked for six years but in 1995-96, I was made the Chief of Works for the Industrial Section in GTHS Nkambe. In 1996-97 I was appointed Chief of Works and sent to Government Technical High School Alabukam where I was made the Acting Vice-Principal in 1998. In 1999 I was made a principal and sent to Government Technical College Kesham in Akwaya Sub Division. I spent four years as the principal of the school and the pioneer when the school wrote its first badge examinations and later moved to GTC Okoroba in the Eyumujok Sub-Division. After a brief stay there I was sent to Government Technical Teacher’s Training College, Kumba in 2013 to start the lone GTTTC in the Southwest Region of Cameroon.

How are the efforts that you have been putting in place streamlined towards solving the problems of technical education especially as far as English speaking Cameroonians are concerned?

I think my experience in the field is really counting because I went to a technical school which at that time was purely Anglo-Saxon in orientation. By the time I went to High School, a new culture was ushered in which we started writing Probatoire, Baccalaureat and our center was in Douala. So I have an insight of what it takes to handle the situation we have in hand. We are presently working to feed the students with what they need to compete fairly in the present educational dispensation in the technical sector.

GTTTC Kumba Students Marching on the 11th of February at the Common Wealth Avenue in Kumba

 As such, we are looking into the difficulties that we face and what is expected of the technological innovations of today. In order to meet up with the Cameroonian dream of becoming an emerging economy in 2035 according to President Paul Biya, we are asking ourselves what we are supposed to do to emerge. Technical Education must be at the center of education for Cameroon to emerge because no country can develop without technology. We are telling the students not only to be able to read and write but to be able to use what they have learnt practically. They should not depend on only working with the Government Sector. At the level of GTTTC Kumba, the knowledge they get from here should not only be used to teach but to also build and fabricate.

Tell us about the History of the institution.

This is a new school created by Prime Ministerial Decree No. 2012/200/904/PM of 4th October 2012 and the Ministry of Secondary Education Decision Number 434/13/MINESEC/SECEN of 18th August 2013. Because this school was created in an emergency situation the special competitive exam was launched for the school. This took place following a decision creating it. It was written in the same year and the results came out and school started on the 18th of September 2013, two and a half months after other schools reopened.

 Presently we are functioning at a temporal site in a structure attached to GBTTC Kumba called CEFOC. We presently work in collaboration with other workshops in town since this temporal structure hasn’t got certain things that we need. There are however some department in the schools that we can boast of like Home Economics and Office Automation which we have the material and necessary training equipment within our reach. In other departments like wood works we have partnerships with wood workshops in town where we prepare our material and then do the coupling in school. In Industrial Maintenance and we also have some of the material and we come and do the finishing in school. We want to fit the students squarely in the context of the new technological innovations.

Students actively in class at GTTTC Kumba

What trends have been noted as far as Technical Examination results are concerned and how does these affect the way you train your teachers?
 
Firstly, I want Cameroonians to know that the first orientation they had about technical education was wrong. They made us think that it was meant for dull students. Technical Education is meant for the best students who leave primary school. The reason is that when you go to secondary school, In General Education, you can specialize in a number of subjects but in technical school you are compulsorily doing everything which comes before you since you are not permitted to choose. In Electricity, you do the same subjects with somebody doing Sciences in General Education with technological as well as the arts subjects included. Technical Education as such needs a level headed person to be able to succeed. The reason why at first children were failing technical examinations was because parents thought they were sending dull children to come and learn a trade. The children who came there could not cope and as such failed in the examinations they wrote. They blamed the system for poor results instead of putting the blame on the poor quality of students that go for Technical Education. Clever students should go for Technical Schools and they will bring out what President Paul Biya requires for an emerging Cameroon in 2035.
Following the examination evolution we have seen that at first, examinations in Technical schools had very poor results but if you take the trend in Technical GCE they are performing well in function of the number who registered and those who passed. This is because those who were supposed to go to technical secondary school have started going there and the teachers are now those who give the exact material that the children need. That is what we are doing here; we are following the trend of Technical education in Cameroon and training the children who will be capable of teaching and giving the exact material necessary for the quality technical education needed for Cameroon.

What about the language problems and the tendency to translate questions and sometimes incorrectly?
 
Yes those problems exist. If I take for instance the Technical GCE, such a problem has never occurred because the questions which are moderated and proof read by teachers who are fit to do it and that is why those problems don’t come. Where problems come is in examinations such as the Probatoire, Baccalaureat and CAP. These examinations are run by the Ministry. What we are saying is that if questions are set in English and because Cameroon is a bilingual Country, a good technical question can be used by the French system of technical education and a good French question can be used by the Anglophones. They should use the competent people to translate those questions so that no ambiguity should exist in the questions and create problems of interpretation.

What are those specific problems that GTTTC as a new school is facing?
 
The problems are enormous and we have to fight to overcome the difficulties. For now, we need equipped workshops because looking at the new programme following the Competence Based Approach CBA, if you teach technology, there are aspects that you have to exhibit practically so as to permit the students see the theory and the practical. We are however struggling to cope with what we have. Hierarchy knows and since it is them that have created the programme they are working in order to put things in place. At our permanent site eight classrooms have already been constructed and eight classrooms are under construction. The Administrative block has equally been constructed while other parts of the school are still under construction. We are pleading that the workshops should follow immediately so that the theory and practical should be complete in order to attain the full technological innovations needed.

EDEV CONCEPT

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Ngundu Francis Mokomba- « We are optimistic that the GCE Ordinary level results will be better at the end of this academic year »

-Ngundu Francis Mokomba, Regional Delegate of Secondary Education for the Southwest Region.

Ngundu Francis Mokomba, Regional Delegate of Secondary 

Education for the South West Region.

You began the year with a Regional Sector Conference. We are in the first Quarter of the Academic Year and the First Sequence Exams just rounded through. What were the salient points that were raised during this Sector Conference?

Usually at the beginning of each year is launched  at the National Capital and in that launching, the Minister gives guidelines and the path to follow in a given academic year. We organize a Sector Conference during which we high light and give directives. As far as the Sector Conference for the Academic Year 2015-2016 is concerned it was packed full because we decided to present papers. The directives were given and it was realised that it was better to give out these directives through the presentation of papers.  Papers were presented on periodic documents. This highlighted how they have to be  presented. Papers were  presented on assiduity, punctuality to work and the ideal school environment. When you get to some schools, you find the environment very inviting while in other schools you have nothing attractive.  The rich question and answer session was an indication of how attentive people were during the paper presentations.

We notice that while the the GCE Advance Level results were good, the Ordinary level on the other hand were continuously going down. What do you think can explain this trend ?

It will be easy  though presumptuous to say that it is because the Ordinary Level Examinations have more candidates because they are found every where unlike  High Schools that are not as many as the first cycle establishments.  Lack of teachers may be one of the key factors militating against good results for the ordinary level. Otherwise, it would be difficult to find out why the GCE Advance Level which is supposed to be more difficult presents a better percentage than the Ordinary Level. Quickly one can say that since teachers are fewer in many suburb schools which have just the first cycle , they could not perform very well. We could also say that for sometime now, we’ve been noticing this decline even in township schools as far as the GCE Ordinary Level is concerned. That means we have to start looking at subjects like English Language. Is it that the setting has some difficulties that is more complex and that the ideas are not being understood. The teachers also may not have mastered how to set questions for their children which might explain what is happening that too many students are failing the ordinary level English and other subjects. The subject associations have taken this up and they are trying to give seminars and find out reasons why this is happening. We are very expectant and we think that at the end of the academic year when exams are written this year, we are optimistic we will get better results because we are tackling it very seriously.

Some quarters are of the opinion that the source schools like the primary schools send in very bad products. Pupils who are supposed to have passed the Common Entrance in List A end up not being able to read and write and pose enormous problems in secondary school.

I think those with this view have a point. Many times, you find a child who has passed in List A because he’s been able to tick the Multiple Choice questions and pass but when it comes for interviews its a problem. Just to fill out some forms, write their names and where they come from becomes a problem. Sometimes, the examination itself does not reflect the real picture of what the child is. It is true that many schools don’t groom the children well before they come to secondary school but this however is not to accuse all teachers of the Basic Education  though it is true that some teachers don’t do their work. There is also a lot of corruption and fraud during some of these exams and so they don’t give the right picture of who has passed and I have continued to tell my principals that List A should not be the cut off point. Even in township areas they should interview even List B children. You will be surprised at how brilliant some of them could be. Among them you will find better students than some who have passed in List A. List A deceives people some times and presents a wrong picture of the pupils concerned.  Another problem that disturbs our education irrespective of whether it is the primary or secondary schools is this tendency for teachers not to complete their syllabuses. When this happens, the child suffers as he or she moves forward. So we have this carry over or this back lash of problems that we inherit at every given situation. The solution is doing your work well. When this is well done all problems are solved. That’s why you see children from a particular school doing well at all times. This is simply the result of working well.

A dominant segment of teachers in colleges in rural areas are PTA or temporal teachers. This group of teachers have a lot of problems which if not solved can affect the secondary school family significantly.

You know that the personnel of Secondary Education is an elitist kind of personnel. Somebody has gone to the University and maybe gone to the professional school after that. He expects to live within minimum comfort and when such a person is employed and sent to a village where there are no lights, water and good houses,That teacher will do every thing to leave that village within the shortest possible time  using all types of methods. Sometimes when a young married lady is posted to a remote area it usually seems unfair to separate such young couples. This repulsive nature of the working conditions in rural areas makes people to run away. There is also this problem of us having expanding a little bit too much. We bit more than can chew and so we have less teachers to manage so many schools and so the nature of expansion did not take account of feeder schools in some areas. As such there is usually a problem of population stagnation in many of these schools as well.

There is been a lot of talk about the competence based approach. The simple person out there may want to know what this means..

It is an approach of pedagogy that deals with the way teaching goes on. Competences are abilities so you teach the children in such a way that they see the use of what they are learning. They kind of appreciate the competences that they are supposed to use. in doing certain things. You get the children down to earth to practice what is thought. The children have so many competences and you will be able to create artists, thinkers, you name it. The goal here is to create creative people. Getting children to see the benefits of different competences and giving them an opportunity to learn as they see the use of these competences. It is simply teaching by competences and making teaching practical. A paper was done on this in the sector conference to try and demystify the concept. It is simply bringing down learning to the practical.

Do you have any message for the educational family?

We run a social service and you know what you feel like when you go to a hospital sick and you are poorly treated. It is the same way a parent or a student may feel if he came to a school and was not welcome or poorly treated. Therefore teachers should be very receptive to both students and parents and should make teaching and learning affordable   and interesting in such a way that both the student and the parent will feel like part of the educational community.

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