Most public and private sector employers and even training institutions require that applicants or candidates for a competitive entrance examinations or training programmes should produce an official equivalent document showing when the certificates presented were obtained abroad. It is for this reason that the 63rd session of the National Commission for the Evaluation of Training Domains Offered Abroad (CNE) held in the conference hall of the Higher Teachers’ Training College (ENS) in Yaounde last Thursday, November 18, 2010.
Organised by the Department of Higher Education Development in the Ministry of Higher Education, the meeting brought together presidents of sub committees of the CNE and members of the national committee. Last Thursday’s meeting examined the different certificates issued by foreign schools and private institutions of higher learning in the country. A total of 501 files were presented for evaluation. The session comes after the 62nd Session last April in which some 300 fake certificates were discovered. At the end of the deliberations, a total of 105 fake certificates were detected. Out of that number are 102 fake Baccalauréat certificates from the Central African Republic and three Masters Degrees from Nigeria. Official sources at the Ministry of Higher Education said the fake certificates were sent to the evaluation commission by companies such as the National Social Insurance Fund (NSIF), CAMTEL and the Ports Authority in Douala after having investigated the authenticity of the certificates from the countries of origin. Actually, the CNE is expected to hold four sessions per year. However, the committee has not been able to meet the task as required. This not withstanding, a total of 1,630 files have been examined this year.
Speaking during the opening, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Higher Education, Dominique Mvogo, called on the members to examine the files with rigour and objectivity in order to come out with the best results. The National Commission for the Evaluation of Training Domains Offered Abroad is in charge of proposing equivalence to certificates obtained abroad and those obtained within the country, studying and proposing the recognition of foreign or international schools whose certificates are likely to pave the way for integration into the Cameroonian public service in conformity with the provisions of the rules governing reclassification or advancement within the different corps of the civil service.
