At 9:00 am, on tuesrday May 10, candidates for the 2011 General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced and Ordinary Levels in the Chemistry and Food/Nutrition subjects were seen in the laboratories of various schools nationwide undertaking the practical phase of the exams. Information gathered from some centres in Yaounde indicates that the practical phase, which will end on May 27, is taking place hitch-free with no major problem recorded so far.

At the Government Bilingual Secondary High School in Essos, Yaounde, which is the largest examination centre in the city, grouping four different schools with a total of 276 candidates, the chief of the centre, who is also the principal of the school, Claude-Armand Abessolo Menyeng, said by 7:30 am candidates were already seen in the school premises bracing up for the practicals which started on time (9:00 am) with no delays or problems. Given that there are many external and internal candidates registered at the school with just two laboratories available, the principal said the candidates have been divided into two practical groups of 40 candidates each. While the first group is at the laboratory undertaking the practical, the other members of the same group are locked in a particular room from where they are taken directly to the laboratories when the others finish. Claude-Armand Abessolo said this is to avoid a leak in the questions between candidates. He also added that those in other groups that have to undertake the practical phase on a different day have complete different questions to answer.

The serenity that was witnessed at the Government Bilingual Secondary High School in Essos was also observed at the Government Bilingual Practicing High School in Yaounde (LBA) which groups internal and external candidates of examination centre number 1009 and 1008 respectively. The Vice Principal of the school, Patrice Njiki, said all the 178 candidates for Chemistry and 77 for the Food and Nutrition subjects were present for the practical phase. Just like in other schools, Patrice Njiki said the candidates have also been divided into different groups with different examination questions and experiments to carryout.

A supervisor from the headquarters of the GCE Board in Buea, Juliet Becky was seen moving around the various examination centres in Yaounde, ensuring that things were going on smoothly. While noting that all writing materials and invigilators are in place, Juliet Becky stressed that so far the examination is taking place unperturbed.