We want peace
no more killing!
We want peace
no more killing!
We want peace
no more killing!
We want peace
no more killing!
In October 2020
suspected armed separatists attacked
the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy
in Kumba
South-West region of Cameroon
killing 7 children and injuring at least 13 others.
It was one of more than 70 attacks on schools
by armed separatists
documented by Human Rights Watch
and other international organizations since 2017
in the English-speaking regions of the country.
For more than two years
I was not teaching
because about 90% of the schools in the North-West
and South-West were actually shut down
especially in rural areas like the one in which
I was working in Ekona.
Education has been a flash point in the Anglophone crisis.
In late 2016 Cameroonian security forces
began cracking down on teachers and lawyers
protesting against what they considered
to be marginalisation of Anglophone education
and legal systems.
Since then
armed separatist groups have emerged.
They have declared a boycott on schools
that they violently enforce.
During the past 5 years of violence
nearly 600,000 people
have been forced to leave their homes.
The separatists were targeting teachers
sometimes students.
I’ve been fortunate to receive only threats
where others have received more than threats.
Their fingers were actually cut off
many were kidnapped
some have been killed of course.
Leaders of separatist groups
should immediately announce an end
to the school boycott
and should cease all attacks on schools
teachers and students.
Cameroonian authorities should investigate
and prosecute those responsible for attacks
on students, teachers, and schools
and establish a reparations program
for the victims and their families.
They should also establish a task force on education
to ensure that all students in Anglophone regions
have access to safe and quality education.
I was in Form 5 by that time
preparing my ordinary levels examination.
When the crisis started
the separatist fighters came to school
they warned us
we were all beaten.
Many of us have been injured.
I was even having internal bleedings.
They burned our administrative block
and then they destroyed our documentation
so the school has to shut down since 2016
up to today.
According to the UN
700,000 students are currently out of school
in the Anglophone regions.
The first consequence to it is that
our kids are not going to be educated.
Ignorance will be running riot in our community.
It would lead to teenage pregnancy
juvenile delinquency
and a culture where people don’t valorize education.
But the worst thing is that
it affects future generation of Anglophone Cameroonians
and it also has a psychological impact
on their parents when kids are not going to school.
In September 2018
Cameroon endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration
an international political commitment
aimed at strengthening the prevention of
and responses to attacks on students
teachers, schools, and universities
during times of violence and armed conflict.
There has been a mass exodus into the urban areas
where school goes on.
There’s some degree of security.
The government and the schools are making some efforts
to solve the issue of overpopulation.
They are trying to build many classrooms rapidly
so they can decongest
some of the classes.
I arrived (in) Buea on the 22nd of February 2020.
I started schooling.
I’m studying sciences in school
hoping to become a medical doctor
so I can better up my life
and the life of my family
and the people around my community
so I can save lives.