When teachers and students return to the rehabilitated classrooms of Government Bilingual High School Bamenda Campus B, they will find a familiar teaching tool presented in a different form.
Mounted in each of the 27 rehabilitated classrooms are new foldable green boards, replacing the traditional black chalkboards commonly found in schools across Cameroon.
The boards are among the special features introduced as part of the rehabilitation of the school under the Programme for Reconstruction and Development of the North-West and South-West Regions (PPRD), implemented by UNDP with financial support from the Islamic Development Bank.
Unlike a fixed single writing surface, the foldable boards provide teachers with additional writing space that can be opened or folded as required during lessons. This gives teachers greater flexibility when presenting different stages of a lesson, while allowing previously written material to remain visible as new material is added.
The choice of green is also significant from a classroom visibility perspective. Research on classroom ergonomics has found that coloured chalkboards, particularly green surfaces, can reduce glare and reflection compared with traditional blackboards and can provide better legibility. Green is also recommended as a suitable chalkboard colour in educational guidance, particularly where a matt, low-reflection surface is used.
More recent research into blackboard visibility has similarly found that contrast between the writing and the board surface is a major factor in how easily students can see what is written. The research also points to the influence of viewing angle, daylight and chalk colour on visibility, with green boards offering advantages in visual comfort.
For students seated at different points in a classroom, these details matter. A board that reduces distracting reflection and provides clear contrast can make it easier to follow what the teacher is writing, particularly in naturally lit classrooms.
At GBHS Bamenda Campus B, the intervention forms part of a much broader rehabilitation covering 27 classrooms across Blocks A to G, alongside new sanitation facilities, paved walkways, a dining shed, security and discipline facilities, retaining walls, fencing and other improvements.
Dreamland Connect PLC deserves specific credit for making avaialabe the foldable green boards into the classrooms. The choice goes beyond giving the rehabilitated rooms a new appearance; it introduces a more flexible and potentially more comfortable writing surface into the daily teaching environment.
Edison Fru Ndi, Chief Executive Officer of Dreamland Connect PLC
During the provisional reception of the rehabilitation works, Chief Executive Officer of Dreamland Connect PLC Edison Fru Ndi said the company wanted to execute the project “beyond expectation”, while expressing appreciation to UNDP for supporting local solutions to local problems.
The new boards will ultimately have to prove their value where it matters most which is in the classroom, where teachers write, explain, illustrate and engage students every day.
For a school whose renovated campus has already been described by Principal Ngwa David as a transformation “from darkness to complete daylight”, the 27 green boards add another practical layer to that transformation which is modernising not only the buildings in which lessons take place, but also one of the most basic tools through which those lessons are delivered.
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Web
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