Cape Town - Cameroon's minister of higher education has announced that the second phase of the recruitment exercise of PhD holders into state universities has been scheduled for Thursday next week.
Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo made the announcement this week in Yaounde as he chaired a meeting of the technical committee for the recruitment of 2000 PhD holders over three years, as ordered by the president of the republic, Paul Biya, in 2018.
A meeting would soon be held in view of launching the second phase of the recruitment exercise to take in 500 lecturers, according to a press release issued at the end of Ndongo's meeting.
The first phase was sullied by alleged irregularities.
Last year, about 200 PhD lecturers participated in a sit-down strike at the higher education ministry, denouncing some recruitment irregularities and demanding the publication of another list that would include their names.
During his response to the protestors, the minister acknowledged that there could be errors in the process, adding that he had taken responsibility for verifying the process.
The president's decision to recruit the PhD holders was at the time communicated as being a "concrete solution" to the dire need for teaching staff at established and new state universities.