Bamenda August 27, 2024 – The marriage between the Cameroon General Certificate for Examination, GCE, Board and the CBC Health Services is not mere convenience, but one borne out of real need to favour candidates with various forms of disabilities, especially the blind who use braille to write the exams.

These candidates suffered in the past because they could not be understood why they should bother to write the GCE in the first place; they faced all forms of stigma and disfavour – no equipment to assist them write the exams and no extra time given to compensate for their slow writing among others.

The partnership of the CBC Health Services through her Services for People with Disabilities (SPD) with the GCE Board has come to lessen the huge burden and barriers on the way of candidates with disabilities. Formerly, only a handful of students with disabilities mustered the courage to take the GCE as many of them gave up on the wayside. Today, many of them take the exams, succeeding with flying colours.

According to statistics from the Cameroon General Certificate for Examination, GCE, some 51 candidates with disabilities participated in this year’s examination with 31 successful, representing a success rate of 67.39%, compared to many years back when candidates with disabilities had no place in the prestigious exams – a remarkable achievement that points to the effectiveness of this partnership.

Moses, successful virtually impaired candidate at 2024 GCE exams

From Struggle to Success

While the journey for Moses Njong, a candidate with visual impairment who succeeded in the GCE Ordinary Level this year was a GCE “with ease,” it was a rough ride for Chiambah Daniel decades ago.

Chiambah Daniel, now a teacher of braille, recalls that in 1989, he was the lone blind candidate who sat for the GCE exams. “It was an atmosphere of fear writing the GCE as the lone and first blind candidate sitting for the exams in the North West Province then. I was the first to write the First School Leaving Certificate exams, and the first to write the GCE as a visually impaired person. During these exams, I was isolated in a room for hours where I waited for my question papers to be brailed. I had fear… this affected me psychologically,” Daniel recounts.

Going through the education journey with visual impairment for Chiambah was a lonely one. His motivation came from the push from his siblings to make a name for their family. “In my family, I was the last of 17 children, and the only one who was doing well in school, and so my siblings sacrificed all to see me through school even after I became blind in 1983.” Chiambah lost his sight to glaucoma when he was just 11 years old.

Even after losing his sight this early, the fuel to hone education in him remained steadfast. In his community and time, there were no education facilities for the blind until he learned of the Integrated School for the Blind [today’s Inclusive School and Braille Centre] in Kumbo.

Despite the support from family and teachers, his hurdles navigating certificate examinations were uphill. “Several times I could not finish my work due to time constraints, the brailed scripts came with errors… all these affected my performance negatively.”

Breaking Systemic Barriers

The journey of improving access to education for learners with disabilities has been a tussle of consistent effort: disrupting social [mis]constructs, advocacy, capacity building, and systems strengthening for improved life for persons with disabilities, affirms Awa Jacques Chirac, Coordinator of the Services for People with Disabilities of the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services.

He holds firmly that the paradigm shifts experienced in the education landscape of Cameroon – especially in the English Subsystem, have been head-on reversals through awareness raising, political will, revision of exam policy, infrastructure improvements, and capacity building among other inputs.

“When learners with visual impairments faced untold discrimination in participating in end of course exams, it was a function of ignorance. The changes we can now make reference to are a function of significant shifts in paradigms at all levels,” posits Awa Jacques. “Families are now aware that a child with vision impairment has opportunities and so should be sent to school. Before, families did not perceive it that way.”

The Cameroon General Certificate Examination (GCE) is arguably the most prestigious and relevant exam in the English subsystem of education in Cameroon. Defining a futuristic educational growth in Cameroon is largely dependent on these exams. By partnering with the Cameroon GCE Board, the SPD has made monumental investments to support this institution in running its exams.

“Acceptance of creating Special Centers, acceptance of braille embossers, and using the technology to braille exam scripts in advance is magical,” Awa says. “That act of fairness was so stabilizing for the candidates with vision impairment; psychologically, it was transforming.”

Sustaining Progress

These milestones are further strengthened by revision of exam policies that consider the specific needs of candidates with disabilities, establishment of five Special Centers – expected to increase to six this academic year 2024/2025, and introduction of aids to support learners who would otherwise be unable to write.

With significant investments made by SPD and its partners – notably the Christian Blind Mission (CBM) and Liliane Fonds in the education subsystem of Cameroon, the chances of persons with visual impairment giving up on education have been immeasurably reduced.

Moses Njong, who took braille classes from the Inclusive School and Braille Centre in Kumbo, offered a Thanksgiving Mass on August 4, 2024, at the Kumbo Cathedral for his outstanding performance at the GCE, succeeding in eight of the nine subjects he sat for at the Ordinary Level.

His hope to continue his High School education is charged by the ease with which the exams were accessible for a candidate with special needs like him this year. “From childhood when I started using braille, the GCE was the easiest and well-done examination when it comes to braille. It was very accessible from my experience.”

Moses’ testimony is a reassuring pat on the back of the management staff of SPD and the partnership with Cameroon GCE Board, which Awa Jacques Chirac also credits to the timeless support of CBM and Liliane Fonds. “These are partners working and supporting CBC Health Services so closely both in terms of strengthening systems to be inclusive but also supporting learners with specific didactic materials and means to be able to utilize whatever services are made inclusive. Their investments are valued in gold.”

After years of advocacy and partnership, the inclusive approach to the GCE certificate examination is now opening new horizons to persons with disabilities. The story of inclusive education in Cameroon continues to unfold, but the foundation laid through these collaborative efforts promises a brighter future for students with disabilities across the country.

By Wifah J. Nde