Basic education: common entrance exams at doorsteps

Final year pupils in various primary schools across the country are in full focus as they begin their official end of year exams.

Common entrance and entree en sixième examinations begin this Thursday May 11th 2023 and candidates are doing final touches in group as well as individual studies in order to maximize their chances of succeeding the exams.

“I am Steve, pupil of Class 6 at Government Bilingual Primary school Babadjou Toumaka. I am preparing for my common entrance exams that will take place on Thursday. To succeed, I do revisions in school and at home,” a class 6 pupil told us 24 hours to exam time.

When asked if he is confident he will succeed, Steve tells us he is.

“I am sure I will succeed because I did succeed in the mock exams and the lessons are easy.”

On their part, head teachers and teachers are confident that their pupils will make them proud judging from their performances in the mock exams.

The head teacher of Government Bilingual Practicing School Babadjou Toumaka, says he knows that his pupils will be successful because all instructions given are respected to the letter and the school put in place a preparatory system that also involved the psychological aspects.

“The children are confident of themselves because we made them so. The psychological preparation is there. We tell them that what they will meet during the exam will not be strange. They are things we teach them everyday and in which they score high. To make sure our strategy works out, we do revisions,” Aloysius, head teacher of the school tells us.

“I will estimate a 90% success rate because you know many of our children are from the restive North West and South West regions. These children are traumatized either with the distances they cover each week to reach school or with the environment in which they find themselves. With this we only have to boost them morally and give them full psychological support, ” Aloysius adds.

Teachers on their part are aware of the stakes of the exams and say the instructions given by hierarchy are strictly followed.

“As you can see we are fully engaged in revising the mock exams. We don’t know what the real exam will reserve but we are hopeful that 90% of the lessons we revise will appear in the exams,” declares a class 6 teacher.

The Common Entrance Examinations are taken by final year school pupils in Cameroon as part of selective admissions process into secondary schools.

After the common entrance, the pupils will have a month before they face their final examination: the First School Leaving Certicate.