Activities marking its 75th anniversary begin on October 11, 2015.
Government Bilingual High School (GBHS) New Bell, Douala, renowned as one of the first girl schools in the country (since 1940), has come of age as a vibrant and modern academic institution. To many former students, celebrating 75 years is tacit testimony of an up-to-the-task teaching staff and a remarkably-committed student population.
The anniversary celebration is under the patronage of the Ministry of Secondary Education and coordinated by the Littoral Regional Delegate of Secondary Education. The theme, “GBHS New Bell at 75: A strong teaching staff celebrating the event,” according to Eboa Thamar, the Principal, is not a celebration per se, but a series of activities that will promote the development of the school.
Flanked by staff members, the Principal told reporters: “Our main objective is to bring together former students to recount what the school did for them and to see what the school is today. The 75th anniversary celebration, which begins on October 11, 2015, and ends on December 3, 2015, is organised with the goal to raise funds for the construction of a classroom block, improve academic performance and discipline in order to encourage other students to enrol in the school.”
The major challenge, she highlighted, was to become more bilingual, with all students speaking and writing English and French languages correctly. As at now, the institution is a macrocosm of the two sub-systems of education in Cameroon. There is an Anglophone section for English-speaking students who learn French as a subject and a Francophone section for French-speaking students with English taught as a subject.
What is today GBHS New Bell was created in 1940 as “Ecole des Jeunes Filles.” It was later changed to “Ecole Supérieure des Jeunes Filles,” and then Government High School in 1976. The school was upgraded to the present-day Government Bilingual High School in 2009. Since then, student and staff numbers have been on the steady increase.
