Have we ever considered what decades of war and fighting can
do to an education system? On top of this, imagine the system was not designed
well in the first place but by colonists who did not want educated people.
Imagine wanting and education, but having to pay your
teacher directly because the state does not pay them at all. Imagine being in
anatomy class with 300 students and needing a pair of binoculars to see the dissection.
I could go on, but you get the point. This is
the daily reality for students in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it is
getting worse.
A 2010 article titled “Education in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Challenges and tentatives
solutions “, touches upon a lot these important
points.
“The education in
the Democratic Republic Democratic of Congo is among the most sectors affected
by the 32 years crisis faced by the country. From the 1960s until the early
2000s, the Congolese public education budget declined from 7% of GDP and 25% of
the national budget to 1% of GDP and 5% of the budget, creating a fall of 96%
in spending per pupil per year in primary and secondary schools (from US$109 in
1980 to $4 in 2002). Consequently, many reforms were done and the worst one
suggested that parents should finance the education system by themselves
without sharing funds with the government. The consequence is the degradation
of education quality and infrastructure”.
I encourage all of you to learn a little about what is going
on in DRC, to understand what is truly
causing it, I will be doing my best to shed some light on this subject.
One last thing, this is not a “pity party”, this is a region
with rich history, culture, and pride. It deserves of our attention in ways
other just the raping of its natural resources (and women) and a sound bite on
TV.
Dr Flavius A
B Akerele III
The ETeam
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