North-West Region-Cameroon: Candidates’ Exam Papers Burned in Alleged Arson Attack in Fundong

Thousands of copies of the Cameroon General Certificate of Education (CGCE) exams were burned by an inferno on the night of Monday, May 28, at Fundong Bilingual High School in the Boyo division of the troubled Northwest region.

Even though details of the fire mishap were still very sketchy at press time Friday, there were immense allegations of arson.

According to our source, the incident in Fundong happened after security operatives slightly lost vigilance. Some unidentified individuals are thus suspected to have taken advantage of the situation to set fire on the establishment.

Part of the administrative block was consumed, precisely the one where the copies of the first day of writing of the exams were kept.

With about 600 enrolled this year, Fundong Bilingual High School, is one of the largest exam centers in the Boyo division, we learnt.

On Tuesday, a day after the supposed arson attack, candidates continued their exams at Fundong Bilingual High School. However, after day two of writing, their papers were transferred somewhere else for security purpose, TCR learnt.

The GCE board, the institution responsible for organizing certificate exams for secondary schools in the English subsystem of education, has however not issued a statement as to how the burned examination papers shall be managed after Monday’s fire.

The spirits of candidates have however not been dampened by the tragedy, according to a source.

The Cameroon Report learnt that the arson has been blamed on Anglophone separatists that have been campaigning against the writing of end of year certificate exams in the two troubled English speaking regions of the country.

Recall that prior to the beginning of the exams last Monday, two school principals were abducted in the Southwest region. An examination center was also attacked by separatist fighters in Muyuka and this caused authorities to move the center to Buea for safety reasons, we learnt.

Before the written phase of the 2017/2018 GCE exams, the Governor of the Northwest region, Adolph Lele L’afrique, warned that security forces were going to deal with anyone that dared to disturb the conduct of the exams.

It should be stated that Boyo division has been a hotspot of fracases between armed Anglophone separatist fighters and security and defence forces.