As new school year kicks off: Minister Nalova Lyonga says modernisation of education a reality.

The minister said the efforts by government are part of broader reforms to equip Cameroonian children for the future and improve technical and vocational training in the country.

Minister Nalova Lyonga was speaking Monday on the campus of the Ekonou Technical and Vocational High School of Civil Engineering situated in the Yaounde IV Subdivision.

The member of government had visited the giant school infrastructure as part of efforts to assess the effectiveness of the official start of the 2025/2026 academic year.

She was accompanied during the visit by the Secretary of State to the Minister of Secondary Education in charge of Teacher Training, Bayaola Boniface; the Governor of the Centre Region, Naseri Paul Bea; and the Divisional Officer, DO, of Yaounde IV, Akonfi Elvis Mbahangwen.

When the minister and her entourage arrived the campus of the Ekonou Technical and Vocational High School of Civil Engineering, she was treated to a guided tour of the ultra-modern school infrastructure.

The minister had taken time off to follow lessons being delivered on day-one of school resumption. The lessons were delivered through electronic boards, an innovation introduced earlier this year to facilitate teaching through the use of modern technology.

Speaking at a working session also attended by staff and students of the school, the minister urged the student community to make the best of the modern infrastructure which she said is compared to none in the country.

She said the investment by government was proof of the importance Yaounde attaches to technical and vocational education. The minister reminded the students of the need to protect and preserve the jewel for future generations.

Training students as entrepreneurs

Speaking during an exchange with reporters who accompanied her to the field visit, Minister Nalova Lyonga said far from just training students to obtain certificates, government is now investing in the training of learners to become job creators.

She said the vision of her ministry ties with the prescription of the Head of State.

“What we are doing is trying to ensure that we capture the areas that the youth/students will need to make themselves people who will actually create jobs. So, the idea is that we train…we know that school is beneficial to everybody including those who say ‘no to school’,” she said. 

Commenting on the introduction of technology in the teaching process, Minister Nalova Lyonga described the boards currently in use as magic boards “because hardly have we seen a board where we can make the images larger or smaller at will”.

He continued that: “The students don’t have to be in a workshop in real time to understand what they have to understand. You just need to import the images into that electronic board…you can make the images smaller or larger”.

Speaking further, Minister Nalova said: “We are very happy that we have this facility in here and we are going to expand it when the intelligent classrooms come. This is just the modicum, the little that they have to start with but it shows that we are making our schools modern and that modernisation in Cameroon is reality”.

On her message to students as the new school year gets underway, the Minister was clear: “They should go to school”.

She was blunt that: “There can be no other message. Somebody is trying to fool them not to go to school. We can’t have a society without school”.

“When we see a new crop of students going to school, we feel happy. That is why I am happy because a new student, is new growth and without students, there is no growth. Without growth in society, we are nothing. Therefore, they should go to school. We are very happy to see them enthusiastic and that is why the Head of State is making it possible that they can reach their needs,” the minister concluded.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3559 of Tuesday September 09, 2025