Students in Kribi, the seaside town of the South Region yesterday September 3, were privileged to begin the 2012/2013 academic year in the presence of their minister. The Minister of Secondary Education, Louis Bapes Bapes and a host of other dignitaries in the South Region were at the Government Technical High School in Kribi yesterday morning to kick-start the 2012/2013 academic year.

While addressing the educational body in the area, Minister Louis Bapes Bapes stressed on the theme of this year's academic year which is "A Pedagogy of Excellence at the Service of the Professionalisation of Education for an Emerging Cameroon." Minister Bapes Bapes told the educational community that current changes in society call for new educational strategies and, in particular, the permanent adaptation of such strategies to social, economic and cultural realities.

He said it is time for the professionalisation of education, in respect to the code of ethics peculiar to an occupation, a tailored coaching of students so that they become capable to acquire new knowledge and know-how and, in the long run, get easily integrated in the job market and in society. While lauding his collaborators for the numerous achievements made during the just ended school year, Minister Louis Bapes Bapes said with them, a lot has been achieved; but a lot still has to be done in the area of excellence and professionalisation.

The Minister used the occasion to visit the Department of Hotel Management at the Government Technical High School which is about beginning a specialist called "Practising Hotel". The department is within the support project for the reform of technical and vocational education funded by the African Development Bank (ADB).