The Cameroon General Certificate of Education Board, CGCE, has announced it is considering an increase in registration fees for the various examinations it organizes. The fee hike is projected to go into effect starting from the 2017 academic year.

The board chair, Peter A. Abety, explained that the hike is overdue and stems from the fact that there has been a considerable increase in the expenditure born by the board in its over 23 years of existence.

“For 23 years, the examination fees have remained constant but our expenditure for running the exams today as compared to 1994 has increased about five fold” said Abety over the weekend during the 44th council session of the board held in Buea, the institution’s headquarters.

“We are going out to ask the parents and teachers, and we hope that following the explanations we will give them, they will be able to decide if they think we should increase these fees…no decision has been taken, the decision will be guided by the stakeholders who are the teachers and parents.” Abety said.

He told reporters that although the board was yet to make a definitive decision on the fees increase, the move is very much probable.

Meantime, the registrar of the CGCE Board, Humphrey Monono Ekema, gave assurances that all is set for a smooth and effective start of examinations this year. “The GCE board is prepared to handle the exams this year beginning with practicals due to start on May 2,” he said.

The CGCE was created by decree No 93/172 of 1st July 1993. It is placed under the tutelage of the Ministry of Secondary Education. The board is charged with the organisation of GCE Ordinary and Advanced Levels, Technical, foreign examinations, Baccalaureate examinations, amongst others.