Although some candidates were absent, the two-day certificate examinations took off on June 14, 2016, on an assuring note.

Most accommodation centres were silent, but examination halls teemed with candidates sitting the First School Leaving Certificate Examination, FSLC and the Certificat d’Etudes Primaires, CEP.

The Secretary of State in the Ministry of Basic Education, Benoit Ndong Soumhet, on June 14, 2016, visited some accommodation centres in the Littoral Region to assess the start of the examinations.

At the end of the guided tour, which took him and his team to the Sanaga-Maritime, Wouri and Moungo Divisions, the Secretary of State expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the examinations and attendance on the part of the invigilators, examination staff and candidates.

“In spite of some absences, the exams effectively kicked off on time and went on hitch-free,” he said.

Benoit Ndong Soumhet and his delegation, including the Littoral Regional Delegate for Basic Education, made the first stopover at “Ecole Publique du Centre”, Edea I, where 252 candidates were having their first experience of the CEP; then the Government Bilingual Nursery School, Edea, where eight candidates were absent.

After a tour of other accommodation centres, the delegation headed for Douala where sub-centres in the Douala III and V Subdivisions were visited.

He rounded up with a visit to “La Grande Ecole Maternelle Publique” at Bomono Ba Mbangue in the Moungo Division.

In most accommodation centres, the situation was the same: roll calls were made at 7:30 am while writing effectively kicked off at 8 am with Mathematics Paper One for the FSLC and “Dictée” and questions for the Francophones sitting the CEP.

Nsong Eveline, Head of Sub-centre at the Yassa Government English Primary School, Bepanda, Douala, explained that candidates who are absent were either ill, dead or had forgotten that the exams were being written.

According to Mouanjo Njoh Victor, Head of Secretariat at the accommodation centre at “La Grande Ecole Maternelle Publique” Bomono Ba Mbangue in the Moungo Division, it was difficult to give convincing reasons for the absences since the pupils concerned live far away. In general, 13,614 pupils sat the FSLC and 48,907 the CEP in the Littoral Region.

Some 845 examiners were deployed to the 46 examination sub-centres for the FSLC and 3,574 for the 239 examination sub-centres for the CEP. The practicum phase of the First School Leaving Certificate Examination earlier held on May 24, 2016.