The authorities have reported nearly 110 absences from the First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) exams in the Donga Mantung Division in the North-West of Cameroon, where the armed conflict continues to threaten access to education.
The Anglophone crisis continues to shake the North-West region and threaten the populations. The recent news is in the Donga Mantung division. In this area, the authorities have just reported that nearly 110 students were absent from the First School Leaving Certificate (the equivalent of the CEP in the Francophone subsystem). This absence, according to several sources, is due to threats from separatist fighters.
Speaking to CRTV National Station, Kevin Njodzeka, the North West Regional Delegate for Basic Education, said this could be a result of internal displacement of families, “the only issue where we don’t know what is happening is in Donga Mantung where about 110 candidates are missing. But it could also be that the children have left the region.” This year, the region recorded the registration of 30,000 candidates for the aforementioned examination. In the South West region, over 29,000 students were enrolled this year, representing a 6% increase in registration.
The FLSC is a written examination, administered face-to-face and delivered in the form of paper-and-pencil tests. All candidates are presented with the same booklets or cognitive tests, which are aligned with the national curriculum. Results are reported at the student, school, sub-national and national levels.
In the French-speaking subsystem, the CEP (Certificat d’Etudes Primaires) is the first school leaving certificate in Cameroon. Its equivalent in the English-speaking subsystem is the FSLC (First School Leaving Certificate). In summary, CM2 (Cours Moyen 2) students take the CEP exam for the French-speaking subsystem and class VI students take the FSLC exam for the English-speaking subsystem.