St. Joseph's College, Sasse

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St. Joseph's College, Sasse (Sasse College or Republic of Sasse) is the first secondary school in the Cameroons. It is secondary school in the Southwest Region of Cameroon, with its campus located in Sasse, Buea. It was created in 1939 by the Mill Hill Missionaries.

Affiliated with the Catholic faith as an all-male institution, it provides education at the first cycle and high school levels, offering programs in science and arts. In 2012, Sasse college was awarded the prize of the best school in West Africa.^[1]

In 2013, Sasse College was awarded the pioneer prize of "Best School in Cameroon" by Fondation Terre d'accueil.

The motto of the school is Fides Quarens Intellectum meaning 'Faith seeking Understanding'. a reference to the philosophy of St. Augustine (354–430) and St. Anselm (c. 1033 – 1109) starting the life of a scholar is incomplete without first proceeding from a position of faith.

St Joseph’s College started timidly in Bonjongo, Buea, in 1937. The Mill Hill Missionaries later moved it to Sasse in 1939 as a Minor Seminary, where most of the students graduated and moved to the Major Seminary in Owerri, Nigeria. Initially inaugurated with two dormitories only, a kitchen, a science laboratory and a handful of students, Sasse has grown in leaps and bounds. It has produced several priests, bishops and several other big names; the likes of former Prime Minister, Peter Mafany Musonge, Prof. Victor Anomah Ngu, Prof. Ephraim Ngwafor and so on. The current Principal of the College, Rev. Fr. Aloysius Ndifor Ituka, said, “After Harvard, we can say Sasse is the goal. We are doing our best to keep the standards flying.” Though a single sex education, it might be interesting to know that some ten women also passed through Sasse - Emerensia Besumbu Njume, now based in the US, attended Sasse in 1966. At the time, there was an attempt to transform the college into a co-educational institution. The attempt, however, botched and the girls were transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes College, Bamenda and Queen of the Rosary College, Okoyong, Mamfe.