The Minister of Basic Education, Hadidja Youssouf Alim, has criticized the "illegal opening of schools" and has closed down a number of schools in the Littoral.

The Wouri department had a total of 120 clandestine schools. Some other illegal schools were discovered in Mungo (7) and the Sanaga Maritime (5). Until then, no other undisclosed school has yet been identified in the Nkam department. These institutions are not permitted to work for this school year.

It should be noted that some of these schools already had students admitted for this school year. There are thousands of children who will have to be looking for other enrollment given the stress entailed on parents who are unable to reclaim tuition payment.

In all the schools visited and closed by the Minister, these illegal establishments had already recruited a good workforce. The measure could have been useful if it had occurred before unscrupulous promoters have trapped unwary parents.

“We cannot qualify a clandestine facility that has already begun recruiting students. We can only do this when the school year has started, not before,” said an executive of MINEDUB.

He added, “our services have also been very successful this year, because the order by the Minister came out only a week after the beginning of the school year. I noted that the MINEDUB is a strict institution and illegal schools are often hidden. You’d have to search for them, which is not easy.”

But the lists of the banned schools have not been made public to deter parents who usually fall prey from enrolling their children in those schools.