The Post (Buea)
Chris Mbunwe
20 September 2006
Louis Bapes Bapes, Minister of Secondary Education, has warned that money paid by poor parents into PTA funds should not be diverted into purchasing computers.
Speaking during a brief press chat shortly after inaugurating the Multi-Media Resource Centre of Government Bilingual High School, GBHS Bamenda, over the weekend, Bapes Bapes expressed worries that some Provincial Delegates have created satellite business contractors to supply computers at cutthroat prices to schools in the Northwest Province.
These contractors, The Post gathered, are all from Pinyin in Santa Subdivision. "As of now, I have not authorised anybody to request funds from PTA for the purchase of computers," the Minister said.
However, Bapes Bapes said if in future there is need to involve any service providers in and around the school premises to do so, he must receive an application to that effect, examine it and then authorise him or her to go ahead. He said anybody who requests money from PTA presidents using his/her office is doing so at their own peril.
Bapes Bapes said 17 schools in Cameroon have benefited from President Biya's gesture of supplying modern computers with printers and other accessories so that youths should have access to new information technology.
"Other schools should wait for their turn because the supply of computers will progressively and evenly spread throughout the country," Bapes Bapes remarked.
He said over 56 multi-media computer instructors have been trained to facilitate the learning process by students and teachers who are computer illiterates.
The Minister warned that the GBHS Multi-Media Resource Centre should not be transformed into a cyber café. He enjoined the teachers and students to handle the gifts with care by carrying out regular maintenance.
The Minister took time off to pay his last respects to former Principal of GBHS Bamenda, Peter Nguh Atamson, at the Bamenda Provincial Hospital mortuary, who worked hard to install the computers and died a week to the inauguration.
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