109 introduce national languages in school Ministry of National Education 1995:11-12. One of
the strongest voices raised on behalf of national languages at the Forum was Prof. Tadadjeus PROPELCA team at DLAL, which produced a proposal for presentation entitled National
Languages Education Programme in Cameroon PROPELCA 1995. The persistent lobbying had an impact: in 1996 the new Constitution of the nation made reference to the importance
of national languages Tadadjeu 1997:23. Accordingly, in 1998 the new Law of Education in Cameroon listed promote national languages as one of its nine objectives of education
Ministry of National Education 1998.
104
As a result, an increasing number of government primary school headmasters in Banso are now sending their teachers to be trained for PROPELCA.
105
This move is not yet legally required; the accompanying text of application
106
for the law is yet to be formulated and disseminated by the central government. However, seeing the handwriting on the wall,
some divisional delegates mid-level government administrators in Banso have already begun cooperating with the language committee to promote the PROPELCA programme,
pressing the school inspectors and headmasters to identify and send teachers for PROPELCA training.
107
The PROPELCA supervisors and the NLO are thus optimistic about the future of PROPELCA in Banso.
3.2.4. Language development in Kom
The Kom language has been used informally in local schools for many years; indeed, as early as 1935 at least one Catholic school in the Kom town of Njinikom was teaching in
Kom language OI: Kain 20 Jan 03. Written Kom was used extensively by an expatriate named Mueller in the 1970s, who produced at least 30 short titles on religious and cultural
topics using a Kom alphabet which he had developed himself. With the standardisation of
104
Albaugh 2003 outlines the role which Maurice Tadadjeu and his colleagues at DLAL played in helping to shape national language policy from as early as 1985. Tadadjeus paper at a conference on Cameroonian cultural
identity is said to have influenced the views of President Paul Biya, as described in his 1986 book Communal Liberalism. There is no doubt that the lobbying of Tadadjeu and his colleagues influenced the formative
National Forum on Education of 1995 Ministry of National Education 1995, and the subsequent 1998 Law on Education Ministry of National Education 1998.
105
Of the teachers taking PROPELCA training in the south of Banso in the summer of 2003, 90 were from government schools OI: Kanjo 8 July 03.
106
The text of application is the document which mandates and describes the implementation of a law. It is written by administrative personnel in the national government after a law is passed.
107
One divisional education delegate is reported to have told a PROPELCA teacher training class that now there is no turning back from mother-tongue education in Nso OI: Banboyee 4 Jan 2003.
110 writing systems in 1979, however, these publications became outdated; Mueller himself was
never reconciled to using the new orthography. Kom now has about 55 published titles other than what Mueller produced, including
PROPELCA texts, calendars, news sheets, collections of Kom proverbs, portions of the Bible, linguistic descriptions of the Kom language, and health and development topics. The
Kom New Testament is within a few years of being published. As is the case in Nso, however, not all of these publications are readily available or even still in print. The Kom
Language Development Committee KLDC is the primary author and publisher of Kom language works. As is the case with Lamnso literature, the sale of Kom literature usually
depends on it being priced either at or below the production cost. The KLDC was formed in 1989, led by Hon. Albert Waingeh, MP and other members
of the Kom elite Shultz 23 Dec 2003. The KLDC constitution of 1991 describes its goals, and is a fair representation of the goals of many Cameroonian language committees:
• To formulate an alphabet and elaborate orthographic rules of the Kom language. • To promote and popularise the standard writing of the Kom language and its use in
the largest possible context. • To express modern concepts in the Kom language.
• To produce and translate various books and other materials in the Kom language. • To promote literacy among all the Kom people.
• To encourage and train literacy workers, translators and authors to accomplish the above mentioned goals. Kom Language Development Committee 1991:3-4
The organisational structure of the KLDC includes a general assembly, an executive committee, and three technical subcommittees of the executive committee for literacy,
translation and finance. Members of the KLDC include local authorities, teachers, the PROPELCA supervisors, authors and translators.
The PROPELCA programme was established in Kom in 1985, with one teacher in Njinikom Loh et al 1989. The programme was authorised by the Catholic bishop of the
diocese, and by 1989, 24 Kom teachers had been trained as PROPELCA teachers and were teaching in Catholic primary schools in nine Kom villages Loh et al 1989. In the early stage
of the PROPELCA programme, teachers were trained for PROPELCA in the provincial capital of Bamenda. As the programme grew in the Kom area, teacher training was offered
locally instead; the first such training was held in 1991, signalling an acceleration in the programmes growth. By 1993, PROPELCA was operating in about 20 Kom primary
schools. Currently there are over 200 Kom teachers trained to use the PROPELCA teaching method, and the programme operates in 60 primary schools - government schools as well as
111 Baptist and Catholic mission schools
108
. Teacher training is now offered in all three subdivisions of Kom.
Nineteen years after the inception of PROPELCA in Kom, community attitudes towards the programme seem generally positive. The inspectors and school managers are
generally cooperative about sending teachers for training and then keeping those teachers in the class they have been trained for. Parents also demonstrate willingness to send their
children to PROPELCA classes. The loss of support by Catholic diocesan authorities which so devastated the Nso PROPELCA programme in the 1990s did not occur in Kom. The
mission schools, particularly the Catholic schools, continue to be highly supportive of PROPELCA, and there is evidence that, as in Nso, the government schools are becoming
increasingly involved in the programme OI: Kain 16 July 03. Hon. Albert Waingeh, the KLDC chairman, has stated that the future is bright OI: Waingeh 14 March 03
3.2.5. Language development in Bafut
