lecturer at the Biaka university institute of Buea

I have been teaching for over 12 years now. I taught private classes and tutorial for secondary and high school students, an activity which ran simultaneously with my university education. In 2006, I was employed to work as a teacher in St. Francis Higher Institute of Nursing and Midwifery. When the Institution was upgraded to a University in 2016, I was appointed as the Registrar after serving as Registrar in St. Francis Higher Institute of Nursing and Midwifery for 9 years. Presently I work in Biaka University Institute of Buea (a private university) as a lecturer in psychology and as the Registrar.

My Academic Profile;  Bachelor in curriculum studies and teaching (2003), Post Graduate Diploma in Educational Foundation and Administration (2005), Master (2011) and Ph.D in Educational Psychology (2017), with Africentric Orientation with great interest in indigenous practices and mechanism valuable today for participatory pedagogy to enhancing learning for sustainable development and emergence. My plan is to take these cultural practices and strategies to the classroom and in the long run see to it that these strategies are included in the Cameroonian school curriculum. Another thing that I intend to do is to combine traditional and modern teaching for a fully immersive learning environment. 

Publications: 

 Cultural strategies for socializing children in Bafut, North West Region, Cameroon in 2016. 

 I have four articles in view: 

o “Interest-driven as a cultural strategy to enhance children’s responsibilities around the house

o Mediated mutual reciprocity as a cultural strategy to enhance children’s behaviours that protect and preserve family possessions

o Folklore as a cultural strategy to enhance children’s engagement in innovative and creative works.

o Practical intelligence in the Bafut Context

With my experience and passion for teaching, the knowledge I acquired has been beneficial to students’ learning and development. I am aware that education is vital to establishing a solid underpinning on which understanding is based. Having this in mind, my aim has always been to augment learners’ engagement in class and to guide students in developing the skills and knowledge essential to becoming mature and contributing to our community. This has made me to help students change marginal grades into good grades; support colleagues and administration in facilitating each student’s social and intellectual growth by creating an atmosphere of mutual respect and open communication. I have also motivated students to do their best and extend their own personal limits. By expanding upon previous knowledge and exploring new, unexplored terrain, students increased their performances that challenge them to reach their full potentials. Having high expectations of my students has made them to achieve any goal set before them. This is a valuable lesson that they can apply to their lives beyond the classroom. With the above mentioned philosophy in mind, this motivated me to do a Ph.D thesis titled “cultural strategies for socialising children (6-12 years) to acquire practical intelligence in Bafut of the North West region of Cameroon”. This thesis aimed at exploring traditional practices that Bafut parents use to transfer knowledge and abilities pertaining to practical daily routines, chores/ tasks. The Ph.D has made me to understand human behaviour and acknowledge the many different learning styles of students. When faced with challenges, I intend to succeed by utilizing a variety of strategies to motivate and encourage positive interaction. Attending the Global Education forum will give me an opportunity to exchange teaching methods (from a cultural perspective), ideas and experiences with other education professionals. Working in the University setting, knowledge benefited from the forum will go a long way to improve pedagogy. This will enable me to train teachers within and out of my job site. By so doing, teachers will have the advantage of using indigenous learning practices and mechanism while incorporating novel educational technologies to create a varied and differentiated classroom that will accept students with numerous abilities.

Elements of modernisation have been imported into the social and cultural fabrics of Bafut, thereby radically changing child upbringing practices. Consequently, the existing strategies do not sufficiently address and capture the exigencies of practical intelligence suitable for child upbringing into a profitable livelihood. The preservation of these identity and effective handing down of such abilities and knowledge to the following generation (children) is at the hub of this discourse.

The time is now for educational professionals to come together and address pedagogic issues 

Education without a good curriculum, without worthy teaching techniques, that serve the learning needs of students, without blameless assessment tools is synonymous to purposeless driven interactions. Consequently students will not be able to acquire knowledge, actions and abilities that facilitate learners’ adaptation in their environment. The time is now for educational professionals to come together and address pedagogic issues that cater for contemporary ever-changing global environment. The Global Education Forum has given us that opportunity and we should all showcase our scholarly abilities for a better tomorrow.

Top issues of the national education

a) The old curriculum in Cameroonian schools is designed in such a way that it does not give room for learners’ competencies and integrated teaching. That is why the Head of State instructed that the curriculum for Basic Education should be reformed to meet national and international realities. This proposed journey holds much in store to enable us bring on board indigenous pedagogic practices so desired in most curriculum practices in Africa to address diversity. With the new curriculum for education designed for nursery and primary schools in Cameroon which took effect from September 3rd 2018, the big issue is for teachers to acquire pedagogic opportunities that are more flexible in such a way that learners will engaged in a more active and creative learning process in a bid to develop their real potentials.

b) Another top issue of the national education in Cameroon is how to get the appropriate assessment tools to evaluate learners’ learning in class.  There are approximately 200 ethnic groups within Cameroon (Neba, 2009). These ethnic groups have different indigenous strategies and practices of child upbringing. So it will not be proper to generalise or limit methods of assessment in Cameroon due to the diversity of cultures. Further, the curriculum of each programme in Cameroon is exams-oriented. Most teachers stay within the syllabus so that at the end students will pass tests and exams. There is a need to come out with different methods of classroom assessment which will take into account individual differences in Cameroonian classroom.

 To exchange methods, ideas and experiences with other educational professionals.

 To search for solutions to global challenges.

 To develop new educational programs that will enhance holistic development of pupils/students to survive in any environment where they find themselves.