The Mighty Santa Caucus has honoured outstanding students for their performance in the 2026 end-of-year examinations, using the ceremony to encourage families to keep children in school and to promote education as a foundation for community development despite the challenges caused by the crisis in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.
The 2026 Excellence Award ceremony brought together students, parents, teachers, community leaders and traditional authorities to celebrate academic achievement and encourage young people to pursue education.
The Mayor of the Santa Council, HRM Samkia Elvis, praised parents and community leaders for continuing to support education despite insecurity and other difficulties affecting the Northwest and Southwest regions.
“This is not a political meeting or a formal deliberation. We have come to celebrate our children,” the mayor said, describing the event as a celebration of the community’s achievements.
“Education is bright, and education is success,” he said, urging parents to continue encouraging their children to remain committed to their studies.
Praises however were showered on those who had remained in their communities and continued their education despite insecurity and other challenges. With traditional rulers and community leaders within the Santa Sub Division also commended for supporting activities designed to bring people together, in the spirit of unity and collective action which remain essential to Santa's development.
Speaking to the award-winning students, the president of the Mighty Santa Caucus, Dr. Chi Asafor Cornelius, reminded them that, excellence remains possible despite changing circumstances.
“You have shown your community that excellence is possible, even in changing circumstances,” he said.
He recalled that residents could once travel freely between Santa and neighbouring communities, while insecurity and restrictions linked to the ongoing crisis have made such movement more difficult.
The students, he said, should use their education and creativity to help address the problems facing their communities.
“As excellent young people, you will find another way out of this problem,” he said as he praised the donors who support students, as well as teachers and parents whose contributions make academic success possible.
“Teachers we should never forget in any of our talks, in any of our discourse,” he said, stressing the role of educators in shaping successful students.
Parents and guardians were also recognised for the sacrifices they make to pay school fees and provide other necessities.
The award winners were urged not to allow academic success to separate them from their classmates.
“Let your success inspire rather than separate you from others,” the speaker said.
He encouraged the students to assist classmates who had performed less well and to support younger pupils.
“That is what a leader is helping others,” he said.
“You are knowledgeable to solve problems, not to create them”.
“Use your knowledge to promote peace,” he added, arguing that education should contribute to peace, social cohesion and community development.
In the spirit of Solidarity and to see everyone prepare for for back to school, Students who were not honoured were also urged not to become discouraged by the success of their peers with encouragement for them to learn from the habits and strategies of the award winners, set personal goals and work consistently toward improvement.
There has been a call for renewed commitment to education, excellence, peace, national unity and social cohesion within the Santa Sub Division from the Santa Mighty Caucus.
The award ceremony of excellence provided an opportunity not only to celebrate academic achievement but also to reflect on the role of education in rebuilding communities affected by conflict. With reflections on the figures of the Cameroon GCE Board press release dated Aug. 21, 2026, where 114 students had been placed on the Honour Roll after obtaining 25 points in five Advanced Level papers.
Of those students, 22 came from schools regarded as purely Anglophone with only 12 of the 43 schools represented on the Honour Roll coming from Cameroon's two English-speaking regions.
This figures, the Caucus argued, should prompt reflection on the impact of the Anglophone crisis on education.
“As we go home after this ceremony, let us take time to reflect on the devastating effects of the Anglophone crisis on our educational system,” Dr. Chi Asafor Cornelius.
Mbuh Jude, a recent graduate of St. Clary Relief Academy in Santa, said the award would help him prepare for university.
The A-Level graduate said the financial support would enable him to purchase school materials and meet other basic needs as he continued his education.
“I am very, very grateful. It is an honour and a privilege to be a recipient of such a great award,” Mbuh said as urged the organisers to continue the initiative, saying their support was making a difference beyond the individual students receiving the awards.
“They are touching lives, they are making change, they are impacting communities, and they should not stop this initiative,” he said.
He also called on his peers who remain at home without attending school to return to class.
“Education is actually a tool through which we can bring about community development,”
“Those who are still back at home not going to school, I will definitely urge you to go to school because from there you'd have so many opportunities beyond even the classroom.”
Another beneficiary, Ndeseh Treasure, said she received the award after obtaining excellent results at the General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level.
She said she planned to use the award to buy textbooks as she prepares for the Advanced Level examinations.
“I hope that in the upcoming Advanced Level, maybe I am able to score five A's and receive another one again,” she said.
Treasure encouraged students preparing for examinations to work hard.
“I encourage them to study hard. Education is all about hard work, and then they'll succeed,” she said.
There is apparently just one calls as these Laureates celebrate their gift and achievements of last academic year, that for parents to send children back to school and for students to view academic success not simply as a personal achievement but as an opportunity to contribute to peace, unity and the development of their communities.
By
Toh Clinton Ndong
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