According to the National Institute of Statistics, of the 250 local languages spoken by the approximately 30 million inhabitants of Cameroon, 4% of the languages in the country have become extinct since 1950.
7% of the languages are under threat while others, 10%, are neglected.
It is on this basis that the Ministry of Secondary Education in 2007 introduced the teaching of national languages and culture in schools.
As Cameroon joined the international community to observe the 25th International Day of the mother tongue on Wednesday February 21, 2024 under the theme ‘Multilingual Education, a pillar of intergenerational learning’, students of GBHS Babadjou showcased their anxiety to raise awareness on the rich cultural heritage a country like Cameroon enjoys. The students showcased their talents through sketches, poems, riddles, fashion parades, traditional dances all in the mother tongue and to the satisfaction of many.
‘I am satisfied with the celebration of the mother tongue here at GBHS Babadjou where
students from different backgrounds had to express themselves in their mother tongue. I really cherish the courage in them and their anxiety to preserve this cultural identity,’ Che Martin, Discipline Master of GBHS Babadjou told CNA. He adds that the mother tongue is not only a means of communication but an identity.
‘The mother tongue is not only a communication tool but a cultural identity. It brings out the cultural values of the people and sells them out to neighboring communities. So I really encourage my students to be speakers of their mother languages.’
Mother Language Day is part of a broader initiative to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world as adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007.
Source: Cameroon News Agency
Kisumu City has announced plans to install 2, 500 CCTV cameras to enhance surveillance and contain runaway crime.
A geospatial plan for the project has identified locations for the installation which also targets to track transport mobility in the lakeside city.
City Manager Abala Wanga said currently, the city which is the third largest in the country has no CCTV cameras and heavily relied on those installed on private buildings by the business community.
This, he said, was not effective in monitoring activities in the city whose population has grown tenfold.
The cameras, to be mounted in the city, estates, and strategic points in rural areas, shall be interfaced with street lights to ensure clear monitoring from one point to another.
‘We want when somebody has committed a crime on a street in the CBD for example, he is monitored to his destination,’ he said.
This, he added, shall also apply to motor vehicles, public service vehicles boda boda, and tuk tuks to ensure the city remained safe.
He said al
l boda boda operators were going to be registered with the two-wheelers fitted with GPS devices to track their movement.
The initiative, to be rolled out under the urban resilience mass transport initiative through the World Bank-funded Kisumu Urban Project (KUP), was in response to a spike in the number of criminal activities associated with the operators, he said.
‘Anywhere there is a crime or robbery incident you will always find a boda boda person there. That is why we want them registered with GPIS so that we can monitor them through the system and the CCTV cameras,’ he said.
Wanga disclosed that the city management has issued new directives rerouting public transport adding that the CCTV cameras would help to track non-compliant operators.
Under the new directive, vehicles coming from Busia and Bondo will take a detour at the Paramount area and come to Mamba before heading to the main bus park through Ondiek Road while town service vehicles will drop passengers at Patel roundabout and will not be al
lowed to the CBD, he said.
‘Vehicles coming through Mombasa road will drop passengers at the interchange to ensure that the highway remains clear for transiting vehicles,’ Wanga stipulated.
All bus companies have been allocated space at the new Mowlen stage and will not be allowed to have offices within the CBD, he added.
‘I am asking all the bus operators to comply with this directive failure to which their vehicles shall be clumped starting tomorrow,’ he said.
Illegal bus parks at petrol stations, Kisumu Boys, Kisumu Girls, Aga Khan, and Kamas areas have been outlawed, he warned.
Source: Kenya News Agency
