Cameroon General Certificate of Education Board

Cameroon General Certificate of Education Board
Abbreviation	Cameroon GCE Board
Formation	1 July 1993
Founded at	Buea
Type	Governmental Organization
Legal status	Organization
Purpose	Accountability, comparability, equity, fairness, validity.
Headquarters	South West Region
Location	Cameroon
Region	Buea
Services	Confirmation of results, Duplicate of GCE/TVEE transcripts and certificates, English Language proficiency certificate, Error correction on GCE/TVEE transcripts and certificates
Official language	English
Board Chairman	Prof PAUL SABENG
Interim Registrar	BERNADETTE NDI
Board Research and publication officer	Mr CHENG JONAS MBIBUI
Supervisor	Charles Desire Fotso
Main organ	General Certificate of Education
Website	camgceb.org
Formerly called	General Certificate of Education

The Cameroon General Certificate of Education (GCE) Board is the official body in charge of organizing end-of-year examinations for candidates writing the GCE O and A Levels. The Main Office is located in Buea, Southwest Region (Cameroon), and the Current interim Registrar is Bernadette Ndi. The Cameroon GCE board was established in 1993 as a public examination body supervised by Cameroon ministry of secondary education in Yaoundé.

The following examinations are organized by the GCE Board as of 4 March 2019:

• The General Certificate of Education Examination Ordinary Level
• The General Certificate of Education Examination Advanced Level
• The Technical and Vocational Education Examination Intermediate Level
• The Technical and Vocational Education Examination Advanced, and the Professional Certificate Examination

The General Certificate of Education is a pure UK system of education adopted by Anglo-Saxon Cameroon.

In Cameroon, the GCE Ordinary Level examination is a 3-year course program starting from Form 3 to Form 5 (Years 9 to 11). It is usually written in Form 5 (Year 11) in Secondary schools, meanwhile the GCE Advanced Level examinations are written in Upper 6 (Year 13) in High school.

By a Presidential Decree of March 1997, the GCE Board was authorized to organize the Baccalauréat Technique and related examinations in English for English speaking candidates. Although the names of these examinations were in French, questions were in English and candidates answered them in English, which was their language of instruction.

The new GCE Board chairman, Prof SAM NGAM EMMANUEL ^[1] is the former Secretary-General at the Ministry of Basic Education. He had earlier served at the Ministry of Secondary Education in the same capacity. He took up the position from the Former Minister for Special Duties at the Presidency, Prof Peter Alange ABETY.

• Since 1993 and continuing to the present day, the GCE Board has been under the able leadership of its esteemed Heads, known as the Registrars.^[2]

• The current Interim Registrar is Bernadette Ndi. She was appointed Tuesday, October 10, alongside Cheng Jonas Mbibui, as the research and publication officer, Ngole Evelyn, as Interim Deputy Registrar of General Services, and Shutang, as Interim Deputy Registrar of Technical Services. Their appointments came 15 days after the incumbent Registrar, Dominic Akuh Dang, died in Buea at the age of 64.^[3]

• Bernadette Ndi is the first female to be appointed as an interim registrar of the GCE Board alongside Ngole Evelyn as interim deputy registrar of general services and stutang as interim deputy of technical services since its inception on 1 July 1993.

• Dang Akuh Dominic is the first Registrar of the GCE Board to have died while in office. Before his demise on September 25, 2023, he took over from the registrar emeritus, Mr. Humphery Ekema Monono after a Prime Ministerial Decree on December 31, 2018.

The Chief of center and GCE Examiner for the South West region, Mr CHENG JONAS MBIBUI, has been appointed as Research and Publication Officer of the GCE BOARD.

• He was appointed Tuesday, October 10, alongside Bernadette Ndi as the Interim registrar, Ngole Evelyn, as Interim Deputy Registrar of General Services, and Shutang, as Interim Deputy Registrar of Technical Services.

• Their appointments came 15 days after the incumbent Registrar, Dominic Akuh Dang, died in Buea at the age of 64.

• The new research and publication officer has been working at the Cameroon GCE Board for 11 years.

• He has been the Examination Officer (Regional Representative) of the Cameroon GCE Board in the South West region since 2018.

• The Chemistry teacher also served as the Coordinator of the GCE Board in Buea from 2010 to 2017.

• He also has a wide experience in the classroom, teaching Chemistry from 1990 to 2010.

• His professional experience has its roots in her educational background.

• He holds a DIPES I (Bachelor of Education in Chemistry) obtained from the University of Yaounde I between 1987 and 1990.

• He studied at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, between 2008 and 2009, where he obtained a Master's degree in Chemistry.

• Despite his experience, many challenges await the new Interim research and publication officer and his team as they take over the leadership of the Board.

• Among these challenges are exam malpractices that rocked the GCE Board this year and undermined the integrity of examination results produced by the once prestigious institution.

• The new team is also expected to implement internal reforms that will fast-track the processing of documents at the board.

• Registrar, GCE Board
• 2018 – Present

• Registrar, GCE Board
• 2006 – 2018

• Registrar, GCE Board
• 1997 – 2006

• Registrar, GCE Board
• 1994 – 1997

It is supervised by Fotso Charles , Cameroon Ministry of Secondary Education in Yaoundé.^[4]

In 2018, Statistics from the GCE Board showed that there was a 67.4% passed at the Advanced Level as against 35% in 2017. At the Ordinary Level,  50% passed compared to 25.29% in 2017.

In 2020, Statistics from the GCE Board show that at the Ordinary levels, results have witnessed improvement from 62.15 to 64.04% while at the advanced level, the result however dropped from 74.24% in 2019 to 64.4% in 2020.

The head Office is situated at Molyko Street, 3.0 km from Mile 17 Motor Park, Opposite Molyko police, Buea.

The Regional Office is located in Bamenda, North West Region, Cameroon.

The official website of the Cameroon GCE Board is camgceb.org/

Decree 2019/100 of 4 March 2019 to modify and complete certain provisions of Decree 2018/614 of 22 October 2018 to reorganize the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Board.^[5]

They have now been replaced by the following examinations:

• Intermediate Technical and Vocational Education (ITC).
• Advanced Technical and Vocational Education (ATC).
• Professional Certification Examination (APC).

The GCE ITC and ATC are written for the first time and has come to replace the CAP/OL Technical and BACC/AL Technical respectively.

1. The Board of Directors
2. The Registrar

The Registrar is the Chief Executive Officer of the Board. In that capacity, he represents the Board in all academic matters. He is also the chairman of the Examinations Executive Committee (EEC).

The EEC is responsible for all academic matters of the Board. It is also responsible for the organization, quality control, and development of the Boards Examinations.

Letter grades are used and below is the grading system used by the Cameroon GCE board for the examinations it administers:

• GCE O Level Grading scale: A, B, C and u

Letter grades A, B, and C represent a passing grade, with the A grade being the highest and the C grade being the lowest, and U (unclassified) representing a fail. Grades lower than C are not stated on the certificate.

• GCE A Level Grading scale: A, B, C, D, E, O, or F

Attainment is indicated by the Grades A to E of Which Grade A is the highest and Grade E the lowest. A candidate with Grades A, B, or C has reached the standard of subject pass at the Ordinary Level. Grades D and E indicate a lower level of attainment, not representing a pass. Grade E being the lowest level of attainment judged by the Board to be of sufficient standard to be recorded. Performance below the standard Grade E will be unclassified and will not be indicated on the certificate.^[6]

Attainment is indicated by the Grades A to E of Which Grade A is the highest and Grade E the lowest. A candidate with Grades A, B, C, D or E has reached the standard of subject pass at the Advanced Level. Grades F indicate a lower level of attainment, not representing a pass. Grade F being the lowest level of attainment judged by the Board to be of sufficient standard to be recorded. Performance below the standard Grade F will be unclassified and will not be indicated on the certificate.

The decision No 787/19 of MINESEC/SEESEN/ SG/DECC/SDOEC of 28 October 2019 signed by the Minister of Secondary Education,^[7] Nalova Lyonga, sets the timetables for official or end-of-course examinations, when they will be written, marked and deliberated upon as well as deadlines for the publication of results.

• West African Examinations Council

• https://camgceb.org/