On 7 May 2025, the Cameroon Human Rights Commission (CHRC) registered a complaint Submitted by Mr Pierre NZODOUM, Principal of the Collège Polyvalent Saint Pierre de Mimboman in Yaounde. Pursuant to this petition, the Commission summoned Mr NZODOUM, who appeared at the CHRC accompanied by the local quarter head and the parent of the student, Ms Paule Albine OTTOU. The complainants were reffered to the Observation, Intervention and Alert Unit (OIA), with whom they held a discussion. they reported an infringement of the right to education of the aforementioned student. 

The circumstances of this case are as follows: On 30 April 2025, Ms OTTOU had discovered that her name was missing from the list of candidates registered with the Cameroon Baccalaureate Office (OBC) to sit the Sports and physical Education (SPE) examination for the General Probatoire, 2024/2025 session. Informed of the situation, the student’s parent went to the school to meet the principal for further clarification. Consequently, the principal of the said school, the student’s parent, and the quarter head went to the CHRC headquarters to report this violation of rights. They were received by the Head of the OIA unit. 

In line with its mandate to protect fundamental rights, the CHRC carried out a fact-finding mission on 8 May 2025 to the Collège polyvalent Saint Pierre de Mimboman as well as at the premises of OBC offices in other to ascertain facts. 

The investigation revealed that the absence observed was due to an omission during the registration of Ms OTTOU on the list maintained at her institution, a list subsequently forwarded to the OBC office, although she was properly enrolled, as evidenced by the receipt of her registration file for the Probatoire Examination, 2024-2025 session, as well as the certified copy of her birth certificate, which is available at the office of the focal point designated by the principal of the college. 

Following the CHRC’s intervention, the name of Ms OTTOU Paule Albine was duly regularised and included in the oficial list of candidates for the Probatoire A4 Spanish, 2024/2025 session of the OBC, she was also issued a registration slip bearing the code GRPAY-467131084747-2025. 

The CHRC encourages any person who isa victim or witness of a human rights violation to report it by visiting its headquarters or using its toll-free number : 1523