Kumbo: GBHS registration drops to all-time low

By Hans Ngala

There is no gainsaying the fact that GBHS Kumbo is one of the largest government-run secondary schools in the North West Region of Cameroon. Prior to the start of the current phase of the Anglophone Crisis in late 2016, enrollment figures at GBHS Kumbo often stood anything at 3,000+.

However, since the escalation of the crisis in late 2017, those numbers have dropped significantly as separatists and the army use schools as a pawn in their show of prowess. The former have threatened any teachers and students if they dare go to school, seeing this as a “betrayal” of their cause as they see government-owned schools as a symbol of “oppression” while the military has been “forcing” the same teachers and students already threatened by separatists to resume effective schooling.

It was harrowing to see that a mere 13 students had registered for the GCE Advanced Levels when in times past, the number of registered students would have been in the hundreds or thousands.

While some residents of the war-torn zone have sought havens in other towns and for the privileged, some have gone abroad; but a good number still remain in these regions and have been deprived of the opportunity to return to school.

As schools are set to resume in September, barely two weeks away; the fate of thousands of students remains unclear – literally hanging in the balance.