The Coronavirus pandemic has forced individuals and governments the world over to adjust the way they go about their businesses. Technology has become the tool that ensures that life goes on, in spite of the horrors that the COVID-19 continues to cause. Cameroon’s minister of Higher education, Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo has not been left indifferent.
In a communique signed on the 20th of March 2020 after a consultation meeting with key players in the sector, the Minister prescribed E-learning as the strategy that will save students in Cameroon from losing the Academic year. Our Higher Education sector has finally seen a huge shift towards globalization!
While the majority of Institutions of Higher learning in the Country will face the enormous challenge of learning to provide lectures to their students online, Fotabe University is reaping the benefits of being the first Institution in the country to provide online learning programs to students from Level one to the master’s level.
One could be tempted to say that this early move was one of the “blessings” of the crisis in the South West and North West Regions of the country. Faced with students and teachers moving to other parts of the county when the crisis escalated, Fotabe University introduced E-learning as a strategy to save the Institution from collapsing.
In 2016, after providing smart phones to all students of the Institution, Fotabe University witnessed a fall in the number of students. Some parents and students clearly stated that they cannot embrace E-learning. Officials of the Ministry of Higher education warned that E-Learning is not recognized in this country. Those were tough times, but this did not stop the university from improving her E-Learning platform and her virtual Library.
During a visit by some officials of the Ministry of Higher Education to the Fotabe University campus in Buea, the virtual Library which had over 5000 books was rubbished by one official who said they wanted to see “real books” and not some things in a computer!!
Today, to our greatest delight, things have changed in this sector. Other Institutions like the ICT University and the Skyhigh University Center are providing lectures to students via E-Learning. Our hope is to see many more institutions join in. This would bring Cameroonian Education to the doorsteps of learners around the world. This is how we will begin featuring in global rankings!!
Indeed, since 2016, it has been a great pleasure to have students apply to study with Fotabe University from Canada, Dubai, Ukraine, USA, Cyprus, Italy, and many other countries.
This is how a county’s education is put on the map. This is how an education system is improved!!
