11/6/22, 1:23 AM Cameroon's Anglophone crisis - fuelled by student rejects and poor spelling - BBC News

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Cameroon's Anglophone crisis - fuelled by student

rejects and poor spelling
20 hours ago

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In our series of letters from African journalists, Tony Vinyoh looks at how his
cousin's medical school rejection was one of the many examples of why a
secessionist rebellion has dogged English-speaking parts of Cameroon for
nearly six years.

It is easy to classify the war in Cameroon's English-speaking regions of North-

West and South-West as a clash over language. What this conflict really
embodies, however, is a battle for fairness and access.

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11/6/22, 1:23 AM Cameroon's Anglophone crisis - fuelled by student rejects and poor spelling - BBC News

When I accompanied my uncle and his daughter in 2016 to check her medical
school entrance results, I knew she would not make it.

At the entrance of a campus in Bamenda - the main city in the North-West

region - were hundreds of science students, who had all passed their A-Levels,
scrambling to find their names on the notice board. Most of them had not
made it.

Some were bemused, others cried, some laughed about it. Together, they were
all sharing their first real experience of living as English-speaking
Cameroonians.

The odds were stacked against my cousin - and against all English-speaking
Cameroonian candidates - trying to get into a government-run medical school.

It was a stark example of their marginalisation by Cameroon's French-

speaking majority.

Some Francophone students and even

lecturers would hurl insults when they heard
English or picked up the accent in our well-
rehearsed French"

Journalist Tony Vinyoh

T Vinyoh

The medical school entrance paper my cousin sat was in English - with
questions often poorly translated from French making some of them
incomprehensible and marked by those who are not proficient in English. So
very few English-speaking students are accepted.

It effectively bars many English speakers from attending state-run universities,

where students receive subsidised tuition. It is also common to hear
allegations of bribery, which is rife throughout Cameroon, with wealthy
parents "buying" a place for their child.

We were just one of the many families going through disappointment in

Cameroon's Anglophone zone - and by November 2016 the demands for
education, judicial and other reforms escalated into calls for a two-state
federation. It later erupted into a secessionist war that has claimed tens of
thousands of lives.

Lost in translation
The prevailing system means there are fewer doctors from North-West and
South-West Cameroon practising at home. Even for the Francophone doctors
who speak English, it is hard for them to relate to a culture and environment
they were not raised in.

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Those I have met are dedicated to their work, but sometimes it takes more
than desire to apply medicine. Medics at a hospital in the North-West region
told me about a man who had surgery for testicular cancer and went home
believing he was cured.

His French-speaking doctor could not get it across that he had to return for a
follow-up. He only came back when he started feeling pain. The man died.

In rural areas, for example, not everyone can speak lingua francas like English
or Pidgin.

I once interviewed a woman in my village for an article I was writing about

cataracts. She only spoke Lamnso, with which I am familiar but not fluent, so I
employed a translator to put us both at ease.

The fact that she did not consider me an outsider also allowed her to talk
freely about her eye surgery and encourage others to try it.

Some health professionals believe the government's push to improve issues in

the medical field has borne fruit over the last six years.

There are now two functioning government-run medical schools in the two
English-speaking regions - there was only one when my cousin applied - and
an oversight committee to implement reforms. Students also report better
translations of exam questions but nothing near professional standards.

Trainers say more is being done to improve the cultural awareness of doctors
and they are seeing more English-speaking Cameroonians in their classrooms
than they ever met when in medical school themselves.

While medicine may be slowly starting to improve, there is a lot more to

achieve in public life.

Harassment and humiliation

Many Anglophones feel that French has been used as a language of
intimidation from the earliest days of the union between French Cameroon
and what was British-controlled territory.

And since the uprising began, many more French-speaking police officers have
been sent to patrol the streets of Bamenda, where they constantly check IDs.

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They get angry if someone cannot speak French, demand money at roadblocks
and sometimes force young women to share their phone numbers.

When I go around Bamenda with those fluent in administrative French, we

have no bother with such harassment. I am in awe of the way their use of
French gives me a pass in my hometown.

TONY VINYOH

Silly mistakes and bad spelling are common in textbooks chosen by the government for Anglophone schools

The challenge for Anglophones is that we simply cannot hide.

While studying biochemistry at the University of Yaoundé, I - like many

English-speaking students - never bothered asking questions in class because
of the abuse we got. Some Francophone students and even lecturers would
hurl insults when they heard English or picked up the accent in our well-
rehearsed French.

Thousands in state-run universities have to buy translated notes or pay for

extra classes in English to compensate.

Our parents are often humiliated by French-speaking civil servants when they
have to travel to Yaoundé to chase up their unpaid pensions, victims of
bureaucracy that seems intent on cheating them.

More the Anglophone crisis:

'Only the coffin trade is booming'

Red Dragons and Tigers - Cameroon's English-speaking rebels

Set texts for Anglophone schools, chosen by the government, are often poorly
edited and written - leading to falling standards.

Yet it is ironic that in spite of the conflict prestigious private Anglophone

schools have become sought-after by affluent Cameroonian parents who
cannot speak a word of English themselves.

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They understand that the best opportunities will eventually go to graduates

immersed in both cultures, speaking flawless English and French.

A graduate who was raised speaking French at home while studying in English
from nursery school is a formidable asset. They are the perfect fit for
scholarships and international jobs in bodies like the UN.

Even during a war that was triggered by discrimination, they are the right fit
for global organisations trying to wade through Cameroonian bureaucracy.

Some English-speakers see this influx as an opportunity for their children to

learn French, but others are uneasy about the change.

TONY VINYOH

Schools have been destroyed in the conflict - this one in Bamenda has now been rebuilt, but most lie abandoned

With a focus on those who can pay fees upfront - and can extend generous
donations - English-speakers are finding it more difficult to go to these
schools.

Until the late 1990s some parents in English-speaking areas, like my mother,
still paid fees in instalments or with food crops like beans, maize and
vegetables. Their children got an education and the food was used to feed
students.

The reality now is that the vast majority of children in the conflict-hit areas
have gone from receiving a sub-standard education to little or no education at
all.

Would-be students with too much time on their hands have turned to crime,
scamming and the all-too-easy life that bitcoin trading promises. At a time
when they should be at school, many teenage girls are raising babies from
unplanned pregnancies and rape.

Back in 2016, after months of anguish, my uncle took out a huge loan and sent
my cousin to Uganda to pursue her dream as she could not do it in her own
country - and when she qualifies she may opt not to return home.

The war is now also driving many healthcare workers, teachers and students
away, a trend that will have dire consequences for the region and the economy.

But what most in the English-speaking regions want - from those calling for
federalism to those wanting secession - is to live in a country where their
children will not have to start life with an insurmountable handicap.

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More Letters from Africa:

Migrants' fears over Italy's new far-right PM

'I was shot by rebels' - the dangers of reporting

Why one country is envious of Kenya's election

Queen's funeral: 'The British march, Ghanaians dance'

Ditching French for English in Algeria

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