Meet the Best 2007 Overall G.C.E Ordinary Levels’ Student
By Martin F. Yembe
Paulia Jua, of St. Bede’s College Ashing Kom came out the best overall G.C.E O-level student nationwide for the 2007 academic year. She scored A grades in 10 of the eleven subjects she was tested on and a B grade on the eleventh subject.
Speaking to The Frontier Telegraph at his Bamenda residence, Hon. Paulinus Jua, Paulia’s father, expressed joy for the wonderful performance of his daughter. He confessed that Paulia has always been a serious student with an independent mind. She is always determined to excel in all she does. According to Hon. Paulinus Jua, Paulia’s performance was due to some key influences. Her parents who were very involved believed that the best way to invest in a child is to give that child the best educational options and all that goes along with those options. He also acknowledged the enabling environment at St. Bede’s College reflects a shining example of what an Anglo-Saxon academic institution should be. However, Hon. Paulinus Jua concluded that 75% of Paulia’s success was due to her personal effort, a fact which Paulia herself confirmed.
The History of the GCE
The General Certificate of Education (GCE) was originally introduced in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1951. It replaced the older School Certificate (SC) and the Higher School Certificate (HSC), which in today’s English Cameroon educational system constitutes the GCE Ordinary and Advanced levels. When introduced in the United Kingdom (UK), it was intended to cater to the increased range of subjects available to pupils after the Educational System raised the age at which students could leave school from 14 to 15 in 1947. The GCE remains a reminder of the United Kingdom’s administration of the former British Cameroons.
The GCE O-levels are offered in over 100 countries, and in June 2005, 12 million candidates registered for it across the world. The international prestige of the GCE has survived its long history, with the Cambridge Internation Examinations (CIE) board still offering O-level examinations through the University of Cambridge’s CIE and Edexcel Examination board. The GCE Board that parents, teachers and students had to fight tooth and nail to establish admidst resistance and intrigue from the central government in Yaoundé in the 1990s manages the local GCE exams in English Cameroon.
While the mother examination (the GCE) has been replaced in the United Kingdom by the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) since 1988, the O-level is still used in many former British colonies such as Bangladesh, Ghana, Pakistan, Singapore, Malta. Mauritius, Trinidad & Tobago amongst others.
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 Paulia’s Secrets
According to Paulia, there are very bright students in her class, but she always challenges herself to beat them all. This she does by ensuring that she maximizes the five hours of reading time allocated to her class daily. She devises methods that will be a guide for any problematic scenarios. Even though some or most students allow other distractions and amorous issues to disturb their studies and preparation for exams, she isolates herself to study with serious friends. She also shares her problems and solutions with her mates.
Discussing the influence of the school environment, the fifteen year old star says the school’s religious background with the students “confined” in a dormitory setting, obliges them to all become stars. There are discussion groups, and their teachers attend to them during private study sessions, counseling them on personal problems. Paulia states that one of the challenges most students face at other schools in their studies is psychological. This, she opines, is taken care of at St. Bede’s College.
Life at St. Bedes
Ironically, another aspect of student life, also corroborated by her father, is the influx of francophone students to Anglo-Saxon institutions like St. Bede’s. Paulia holds that francophones seem to be deriving the advantages of English Cameroon’s Anglo-Saxon based education. However, she regrets that there is a sharp divide between the francophone and anglophone students who barely interact. She calls on her fellow anglophone students to study French. Speaking earlier, Hon. Paulinus Jua, Paulia’s dad, had indicated that in the next thirty years, Cameroon will be completely Anglo-Saxon given the rush by francophones for the Anglo-Saxon based education being offered in English Cameroon colleges like St. Bedes.
Gratitude and Looking into the Future
Concluding, Paulia thanked her parents who always paid her regular visits, reminding her the entire family was looking up to her. She remembers that in some History classes, she learned about her grandfather (former Prime Minister of West Cameroon, Augustine Ngom Jua) and this has inspired her to keep his legacy shining. Paulia advises other students to overcome all forms of shyness and to ask for help without pride, as it is not a shameful thing to ask questions. She also encourages the sharing of knowledge with others. She is poised to enroll in the ‘S1’ series: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics in High School in preparation for the GCE A-levels and looks forward to becoming a surgeon. Paulia also sings, dances, plays tennis and reads novels in her free time.
*Additional historical GCE information from Wikipedia |
