Saker Baptist College is an all-girls secondary school located in Limbe in Cameroon. It was founded in 1962 as one of the first two secondary schools for girls in Cameroon.[1] Its inaugural class of 36 students arrived on January 29, 1962. The school has since grown to almost a thousand students. Some applicants have to be turned away each year due to lack of space.
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Students are housed in dormitories, each of which belongs to one of four houses. These houses include Witt House, Bosen-Daiga (formerly Armstrong) House, King House and Burnley (formerly New)House (also known as New House because it is the newest house). Each house consists of six or seven dorms. Each dorm can house anywhere from about 22 to 40 students depending on its size. Most of the dorms are named after missionaries that contributed to the school's existence in one way or another.
The average student's day begins at 5:00am. Some students have assigned morning chores to complete before the regularly scheduled morning devotion and breakfast. Classes begin at 7:30am and end at 2:00pm. Lunch follows classes and then a compulsory siesta period. Supper is served in the early evening with "prep", an evening studying period, following supper. After prep, students have thirty minutes to prepare for bed. "Lights out" occurs at 9:30pm.
Students celebrate the school's anniversary every year. As part of a long-running tradition, a group of student conspire to steal the official school bell a few days before the anniversary so that they can ring it at midnight on January 29. The celebration sometimes goes as far as students going beyond the dorm area and into the teachers' living area.
An Interhouse Competition also occurs every year. As part of the competition, each dorm is assigned to one of four groups. Different names are assigned to the groups each year. Students then sign up for different sports activities in which they wish to participate. This is a two-day event that begins on Friday afternoon with the singing of the official Saker Anthem on the School Field. Activities go on all day Saturday and the day ends with the announcement of the winning group and the distribution of prizes.
Annually as well is the spiritual emphasis weekend. It usually starts on friday, witha a common meal, shared by the students, staff and some invited guests (usually counsellors/ pastors invited for the program), and thereafter a semon. The next two days consist of different sermons, interspaced with free periods when students can meet the counsellors for advice.
Saker Baptist college was the first secondary school in Cameroon to do a graduation/ prize-giving ceremony, as well as the first to have students wear graduation robes. This comes up once a year. over the years, it has been toned down from a the extravagant affair it was a ceremony to which parents and relatives were inviting (preeded by a day called snapping day, where the graduating students took photographs with school friends) to a prize-giving ceremony involving just the graduating students and staff.
In 1969, a student choir named The College Singers toured the United States and Canada, becoming the first such choir from a West African secondary school to do so.
Although Saker Baptist College was originally founded as an establishment,whose religious teachings were typically Baptist, SBC now educates students of all religious persuasion. On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the principal allows religious ministers of different faiths to come in and minister to students belonging to those various religious affiliations. Some catholic students are even given the opportunity to go and celebrate mass in parishes that are in proximity to the school.