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| Mbangfon Nick Ngwanyam |
If you want something you have never had, do something you have never done.
If you plant maize for a hundred years, you will harvest maize. If you want yams, you MUST LEARN how to grow yams.
In 1960, curricula were designed and used in Cameroon to achieve one goal: CAMEROONIANS HAD TO READ AND WRITE.
This was necessary at the time because our offices were empty, we had to communicate with the rest of the world and we had to do business. There was NO adequate man power at independence.
When you are dependent, someone thinks, plans, decides and works for you.
When you are independent, you take RESPONSIBILITY for your life.
WISDOM = INFORMATION + UNDERSTANDING + DOING
Information + Understanding = 50% of the solution to your problems.
DOING efficiently and effectively = 50%
ATTITUDE = 75% OF OUR SUCCESS
CERTIFICATES = 25%
Our two sub systems of education were left in place by the two colonial masters.
The African disease is IGNORANCE and IRRESPONSIBILITY.
What Is The Problem?
So far, we have argued that it was necessary to HARMONIZE the two systems. This is because on the field, some groups of people seem to have a lion’s share of opportunities emanating from the educational system while others are left behind.
Let us suppose that Anglophones and Francophones shared the job opportunities in Cameroon in the civil service and private sector on a 50/50 basis. Will that solve our problems? NO!
According to system thinking, harmonization is not what we need because we failed to identify our problem.
Understanding The Problem
What are genes and chromosomes for? Why is a man different from a woman? Why are some people white and some black, short and tall, fat and thin, hairy and smooth, aggressive and gentle?
Why does John look and act different from James? GENETICS!
A computer has system soft ware and operational soft ware. It can only do what it was programmed to do and nothing beyond the capacity of the soft ware that controls it.
A human being can only give you what he has got. Period!
Why can we not make a car in Cameroon ? If the Chinese open up a factory in Bamenda in January 2013 and make a car by June 2013. If you label that car as made in Cameroon , is it a TRUTH or a LIE?
Look at all the things around you and name which ones are truly made in Cameroon . That is the PROBLEM.
· When shall we have a car made in CAMEROON ?
· When shall that car be made by Cameroonians?
· What do we Cameroonians need to make a car?
· Money? Land? Youths? Roads? Airports? Sea port? Raw materials? Electricity? What???
The genetic pool in any living organism is called the GENOTYPE. It expresses itself physically in something we can see, feel, hear, smell and touch. This gives us a concrete picture reflecting the hidden codes in the genetic makeup of that organism. This unique expression of the genotype is called the PHENOTYPE. That is what makes me different from you. The GENES.
Education In A Nation
Education in any nation is the total bank of all the information, understanding and wisdom in that nation. All the development, activities, politics, health, hygiene, financial sanity, job creation, security, habits etc that you see in any nation, are the physical expression of the education the people got. They can only conceive, change and interact with their environment to the level and capacity of their thought processes.
What does education do to a person and then a people?
It brings INFORMATION. This leads to FORMATION and with the right attitude creates TRANSFORMATION in the communities.
Cameroon has a problem because we are getting the wrong information, wrong formation and so we are unable to TRANSFORM. That is the problem. Would harmonization cause transformation? NO!!!
So, why waste energy, time and resources trying to solve a ghost problem that will yield no fruits?
· Where are we? – You need to travel.
· What do we want? – Define what you want
· Where do we want to be?
· Whom do we want to copy?- Eye a model
· What do we want to create?
· Do we want to be rich, comfortable and healthy?
· What do we mean by emergence in 2035?
· Is it a political slogan?
· Do we emerge because the president said so or do we emerge from what we do?
If a decree is issued saying that we must emerge come 2035, does that in itself make us emerge?
If we study Greek, Latin and Italian, would that make for emergence? If we dance very well and sing as well, would that help? If beer is free for all to drink, how would it help positively for emergence? What about irresponsibility, corruption, favoritism, tribalism, etc
If everybody went to ENAM or ENS, would that help us to emerge?
What do we need to emerge???
Why are there no jobs in Cameroon ? Why are the youths underemployed? Why is insecurity rising? Why is it that there is so much dishonesty?
If I want to bake a good cake and had no idea how to go about it, there is only one way. LEARN TO BAKE A CAKE. There is a curriculum to follow so that I can bake that cake after my studies. Short of this, there is no cake.
Question
What are the primordial needs of our time?
· Development,
· Job Creation,
· Increasing Our Wealth
Can a curriculum built in 1960 to help us read and write solve our problems of being able to build a car? No!
So what do we need to do?
Change the curriculum completely. We must change the genetic make-up so that the phenotype can change. Change the computer programs. We must do genetic engineering and come up with hybrids that meet our needs.
Statement of Fact
THERE IS NO EMERGENCE WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY
What is technology?
Where do we get it from? Is it sold? Can we learn it? Who has it for sale?
How did Japan grow? China ? South Korea ? India , Brazil ?
Why is Germany doing better that some other European countries like Italy , Spain and Greece ? Why is there a trade war between America and China ?
If there is a war today between a country like Japan against all of Africa, Japan will beat us pants down. Why? They can study us via satellite, bomb all our cities and villages from the air. How many of us can read a map and tell where Japan is? How shall we get to their country to attack them? By boat or by witchcraft? Would your clubs, spears and arrows be of some help? I know we can make Dane-guns but have no clue how gun power comes about.
Can we make aspirin or paracetamol? I know we are good at making potato chips, ‘baton de manioc’ and drying bitter leaf in the sun. We have advanced because we can also dry ‘njama njama’, our invention and capacities end there. What else can we do? A bamboo chair, some mask for a masquerade and some tiger skin for the fon. How do you conquer the Japanese with these?
Do you know that all the countries of the world fall in four classes?
A) G 8 countries which include America , Canada , Britain , Germany , France , Russia , China , Japan .
B) Class B countries are newly emergent nations like Brazil , India , South Korea , Singapore , Malaysia , Israel .
C) Class C would be nations like South Africa , Nigeria , Ghana , Egypt , Venezuela , Tunisia , Pakistan , Iran , Syria
D) Class D are Cameroon , Gabon , Kenya , Mali , Central African Republic , Equatorial Guinea etc
If Cameroon wants to emerge, which country or which class do we want to copy?
To seek to be like America is foolish. There is no way you can go from class two in primary school to class seven. It cannot happen.
However, it is good to aim for the stars. So we want to be like South Korea , Brazil and India .
· What Kind of studies do they pursue from primary, secondary, high school and university?
· What kinds of universities do they have?
· If we did a survey to find out the distribution of what the students learn in South Korea and compared that with what happens in Cameroon , what would we see?
· So what must we do so that we can also build television sets, cell phones and cars like the South Koreans do?
The Way Forward for Cameroon
We should look at the curricula of studies in the countries of class B. We should merge them up by bringing together things that are common at the primary, secondary and university levels.
We can then add some other ingredients to these and we have the CAMEROONIAN CURRICULUM.
We can then translate this common document into French and English. This unique document is a harmonized version of what we have been looking for. Set a deadline for implementation. Say 2015. There will no longer be sub systems and we shall be on our way to 2035.
What is the Common Thread in this Curriculum?
You will notice that science and technology are given the pride of place. Computer studies and professional education geared towards production, industrialization, research and development, marketing, financing, customer service, accountability and transparency are top on the list. They learn net working, espionage and how to steal technology. They must learn entrepreneurship.
Attitude
To this curriculum, we have to add citizenship, respect for others and public goods. We have to learn to work and to like work that is well done. Honesty and self discipline have to be our hall marks. We must respect the environment.
We must respect merit. We must learn to appreciate each other and to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.
This Is How Cameroon Should Work To Transfer Technology
We should discourage importation and favor local production of goods and services. It will be tough to begin with but it is a necessary pill to swallow.
Machines for industrial production and raw materials should be brought into the country tax free.
Newly created industries should pay no taxes for five years and should employ certain numbers of youths to be predetermined. The more youths you employ, the less taxes you should pay.
Factories and industries setting up must comply with a policy document which obliges them to keep their doors open for students in training in technical schools, universities and colleges to come in and carry out practical work.
Foreign Companies
Foreign companies setting up manufacturing industries in Cameroon should be encouraged but tied up to certain clauses.
They have to employ a minimum number of Cameroonians in the mid level and top positions.
They have to teach our university students and lecturers their technology.
These students have to come to their factory to do practical work.
A certain predetermined number of these students must go to the countries the industries come from to learn, work and practice in those industries and universities and subsequently return to Cameron to strengthen industrial production and local capacities to produce.
Cameroonians In The Diaspora
Those of them who have learned some skills and have a production capacity should be given lots of incentives to come back home and invest.
Dr. Nick Ngwanyam, MD
Surgeon and Urologist. Director St Louis University Institute of Health Bamenda.
Tel 237 7776 46 74, stlouisclinicbamenda@yahoo.co.uk, www.saintlouisgroup.cm
What are genes and chromosomes for? Why is a man different from a woman? Why are some people white and some black, short and tall, fat and thin, hairy and smooth, aggressive and gentle?
ReplyDeleteWhy does John look and act different from James? GENETICS!
Kevin Peterson
http://www.schoolanduniversity.com