WHY PROF. PAULINE NALOVA LYONGA'S FIGHT AGAINST EXAM FRAUD DOES NOT SURPRISE ME. I am Bongkem Eric Babah from the Northwest Region of Cameroon
Many people are talking about the recent GCE scandal, the postponement of examinations, and the strict measures taken by the Minister of Secondary Education.
I am not surprised.
Not because I support everything every leader does.
But because I have watched Prof. Pauline Nalova Lyonga for years, and if there is one thing she has consistently demonstrated, it is an unusual determination to challenge systems that many people have accepted as normal.
I was a student at the University of Buea when she became Rector.
Those who were there will remember that UB was not the same university she met.
There were many loopholes. There was indiscipline. There were practices that had become so normal that nobody questioned them anymore.
Then she arrived.
Suddenly, things began to change.
The famous dressing code became a serious matter. Many students who felt university meant absolute freedom were shocked when they were asked to return home and dress properly before attending lectures.
Some complained.
Others laughed.
But her message was simple:
"Education is not only about what enters your head. It is also about the values you carry."
She understood that character and discipline are part of education.
Then came another battle.
Fee payment.
Those who attended UB years ago understand the frustration students faced. Long queues. Delays. Stress. Confusion. Opportunities for manipulation.
Prof. Nalova pushed for digital payment systems.
Today, many students may not appreciate how revolutionary that was at the time.
She reduced unnecessary suffering.
She reduced loopholes.
She reduced opportunities for fraud.
She made life easier for students and parents.
Again, people complained initially.
But history proved her right.
Then there was UBSU.
Many people still remember how powerful the University of Buea Students' Union had become.
Some feared touching it.
Others felt it had become bigger than its original purpose.
Prof. Nalova did not govern through fear.
She governed through conviction.
She took difficult decisions that many others would have avoided.
Whether people agreed with her methods or not, one thing became obvious:
She was not interested in maintaining the status quo.
She was interested in reform.
That same spirit followed her to every office she occupied.
When she moved to Secondary Education, she carried the same mindset.
Many secondary schools had become victims of weak systems.
Teachers abandoned classrooms in villages but continued receiving salaries.
Some names existed on payrolls but could not be found in schools.
Students in remote communities suffered because the people paid to teach them were nowhere near the classroom.
Then came biometric verification.
Again, people complained.
Again, resistance emerged.
But the results spoke loudly.
Ghost workers were exposed.
Absentee teachers were identified.
Accountability improved.
Many teachers found their way back to classrooms where they belonged.
Who benefited?
The students.
Especially the poor child in a village whose future depended on a teacher actually showing up.
She also carried her philosophy of discipline and decency into the secondary education sector. School standards were strengthened, dressing codes reinforced, and learning environments made more focused on education than distractions.
Then came reforms in school administration.
Then came monitoring systems.
Then came technology.
Then came cameras.
And suddenly, examination fraud that had hidden comfortably in darkness became visible.
Let us be honest with ourselves.
The cameras did not create cheating.
They exposed it.
The monitoring systems did not create corruption.
They revealed it.
The postponement of exams is painful.
Parents are frustrated.
Students are disappointed.
Government has incurred costs.
Taxpayers will carry part of the burden.
But imagine the greater cost if we continued producing certificates without competence.
Imagine doctors who cheated through school.
Imagine engineers who leaked questions instead of studying.
Imagine teachers who never earned their qualifications.
Imagine the future of a nation built on shortcuts.
That is a far greater disaster.
What I admire most about Prof. Nalova is not her title.
It is her courage.
She has spent years entering broken systems and asking uncomfortable questions.
She sees loopholes where others see normality.
She sees reform where others see risk.
She sees possibility where others see resistance.
Love her or criticize her, one fact remains difficult to dispute:
Everywhere she has served, she has attempted to leave the system stronger than she met it.
Cameroon desperately needs leaders who are willing to challenge mediocrity instead of adapting to it.
Leaders who are not afraid of criticism.
Leaders who understand that real change is rarely comfortable.
Today, I celebrate Prof. Pauline Nalova Lyonga.
Not because she is perfect.
But because she reminds us that leadership is not about popularity.
Leadership is about having the courage to fix what everyone else has learned to tolerate.
And Cameroon needs more of that.
Prof. Nalova Lyonga may not solve every problem in our education system, but history will remember her as one of the few leaders who consistently tried to close the loopholes instead of benefiting from them.
Before you leave, let me ask you a simple question:
How many times have we blamed government, society, our parents, our village, our background, or other people for challenges that required us to first look within?
Real transformation begins when we stop pointing fingers and start taking responsibility.
By Bongkem Eric Babah
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