Our History
Historical Time Line
2002: An idea was born at King’s College School in Caledon. John Eta, the Managing Director of the school, and his business partner Barbara Lord, the school’s Headmistress, were discussing what project the senior students could undertake to fulfill one of their leadership goals of contributing back to the world. The students liked the idea and collected books and raised funds. And thus the Cameroon Library Fund was born.
2003 – 2005: Since then, King’s College School has continued the fundraising and book collection drive. In Cameroon, this translated into a learning centre where local students could come to study and the development of the largest private library in the Kumba area.
July 2005: The senior class traveled to Kumba, to deliver more books and 2 computers to the learning centre. There were 6 students, 2 parents, Barbara Lord, and John Eta. Pat Long was one of those parents, and she has actively continued in the development of Eta Colleges International Charity and the school in Kumba.
September 2005: Eta College, Kumba, A school for Bright and Gifted Children opened with 8 students in Form 1. The school is situated on the Eta Family compound and has room for about 60 students and three forms.
September 2006: Eta College enrollment is 20 in Forms 1 and 2. Benesure Canada Inc. begins corporate funding for majority of school operation costs.
March 2007: John Eta traveled to Kumba to review plans and initiate the construction of a new school, to be built on the Eta property. Funding for construction is also donated by Benesure Canada Inc.
July 2007: John Eta returns to Kumba for teacher training and Pat Long joins him there to deliver a computer for administration and monitor progress on construction of the new school.
September 2007: Projected enrollment is 29 in Forms 1, 2 and 3.
September 2008: New school opens and includes Forms 1 – 4. Enrollment is 36. Because there is such a change in learning methodology for the students, enrollment growth is controlled by adding new students to Form 1 only. This is to prevent massive cultural readjustments each year with staff and existing students.
March 2009: John Eta returns to review operations plans and provide further training to staff.
February 2010: John Eta, Pat Long and two volunteers visit the school to oversee further teacher and staff training.
Spring 2010: The Cameroon Ministry of Education publicly endorsed our Integrated Sciences and Integrated English curriculum at the annual Education Forum held by the Cameroon Government.
June 2010: Eta College – Kumba students wrote O-Level (Form 5) exams for the first time. Two of our graduates ranked in the top 15 in all of Cameroon. It was the first time in the history of Kumba that any local student had ranked in the top 15 in the country and we had two.
August 2010: John Eta visits the school to facilitate a change of personnel in the administration. Mr. Ojong is promoted to Principal
Fall 2010: We added music and art to our curriculum. This is not available at any other local school.
October 2010: A first floor is added to the school building which allows for two more classrooms and a general assembly area. Benesure Canada Inc. provided the funds for this addition
April 2011: A highly successful Tastes of Africa, hosted by King’s College School raises enough funds to purchase a vehicle for the school. In combination with a donation from the Klein Panneton Foundation, the balance of the funds will go toward the purchase of a bus.
June 2011: A container organised by King’s College students and Charity volunteers and filled with books and additional supplies for the school leaves Canada for Eta College - Kumba in Cameroon. A donation from the Alva Foundation supported this project.
June 2011: Through Benesure Canada Inc.’s donations, finishing touches are added to the building to make it safe for use and to protect the stairs from the rains.
July 2011: John Eta visits Cameroon to facilitate receiving the container and provide teacher training.
September 2011: New School year starts with a fully equipped science lab provided through the generous donation from Manulife Financial and a new Computer Lab. Several used laptops were sent on the container.
March 2012: Pat Long and Andrew Beaudoin visit the Eta College - Kumba for oversight of financial procedures and to deliver computer training to both teachers and students. Andrew installed self-learning modules on all the computers.
April 2012: Tastes of Africa fundraiser was once again successful and raised enough money to purchase a 19 seat school bus. This is especially useful for the students who live an hour away on foot as school begins at 7:30AM.
May 2012: Our Form 5 students wrote their O-Level GCE exams. As we do not have GCE Status yet, our students wrote their exams at Denis Comprehensive School in Kumba and the top two students in that group were from Eta College.
August 2012: Mr. John Eta travelled to Kumba to deliver teacher training and to observe the process of opening the school in September. Several team initiatives and reporting requirements were implemented.
November 2012: A staff fundraiser at Benesure Canada Inc. raised enough funds to purchase musical instruments, video camera and memory sticks.
2013: A motorcycle is purchased to facilitate the outreach programs. One of the staff visits the feeder schools to share, inform and educate the other schools.
April 2013: Another successful Tastes of Africa fundraiser was held in Caledon.
2013: Land is purchased for future developments
2013: A photocopier is purchased. Textbooks are at a premium and as a result textbooks are photocopied.
October-November 2013: Tabot Eta performed a procedural audit and from this audit some changes were implemented and several development projects identified.
April 2014: Taste of Africa fundraiser was again a success.
May 2014: John Eta visits the school to facilitate a change in personnel.
2014: A fence is built around the school to ensure the safety and well-being of the staff and students.
2014: The school is now a certified GCE facility.
April 2015: Taste of Africa fundraiser occurs in Caledon.
2015: The second and third floor is constructed to help withthe increase of the enrollment. A designated lab, computer room and library are created along with new classrooms.
2015: A new vehicle is purchased.
