Vera Schaffer
Program Manager DR Congo
â–º E-mail
Project Number: 197.1814
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, churches and aid organizations make a significant contribution to children's schooling. The partner church CEK looks after over 200 primary and secondary schools in several poverty-stricken districts of the capital Kinshasa and in hard-to-reach regions of the Kwango province for about 37,000 children. Although the state has been trying to pay the salaries of teaching staff in elementary school in full and in secondary schools in part since the 2019/2020 school year, it is not paying for the construction and maintenance of the infrastructure. The state also does not pay for further training of specialists, and so teaching staff teach at a basic level and without bringing in current topics. The project aims to improve the quality of educational institutions by improving infrastructure, training teaching staff and raising awareness of important issues.
The education system in the DR Congo is in a poor state. The quality of education has declined in recent decades, and it is said that the last generation to enjoy a more or less good education was born in the 1960s. While educational opportunities are still somewhat higher in Kinshasa (92 % of children in Kinshasa attend elementary school and 55.6 % attend secondary school), access to education for children in Kwango province is not easy. In addition to the low primary school enrollment rate (67.6 %), the poor quality of schools and frequent dropouts often due to lack of resources results in a very low secondary school enrollment rate (25.9 %). School infrastructure is in extremely poor condition both in the slums of Kinshasa and in Kwango province in general. Poor and insufficient school desks and worn blackboards, as well as the lack of sufficient teaching and instructional materials, do not promote learning.
The project aims to open the way to a better future for 37,000 children a year in the poor neighborhoods of Kinshasa and in the hard-to-reach regions of Kwango Province thanks to primary education. Since the state hardly provides infrastructure, further training for teaching staff and awareness-raising on current issues, this is guaranteed by the project.
The target group includes the students of the 158 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools of the CEK as well as their teachers. The vast majority of the students come from families that are affected by great poverty.
In total, the school project accompanies almost 37,000 students per year in the CEK schools. The Lunda secondary school was completed and opened in May 2022. School classes have started.
80 hand washing units and hand sanitizers were purchased and distributed to ten elementary school to ensure continued important hygiene standards.
In cooperation with the agricultural project, school gardens could be established at two schools of the partner church of the CEK in order to sensitize students and to produce food for the local population at the same time. In addition, animals were purchased which are used for livestock breeding.
CHF 57'500
Mission 21
Protestant Mission Basel
PO Box 270
Missionsstrasse 21
4009 Basel, Switzerland
Tel.: +41 (0)61 260 21 20
info@mission-21.org
Donation account Switzerland:
IBAN: CH58 0900 0000 4072 6233 2
Tax exemption number:
CHE-105.706.527
Donation account Germany:
Savings Bank Lörrach-Rheinfelden
Swift BIC: SKLODE66
BLZ: 683 500 48
IBAN: DE39 6835 0048 0001 0323 33
Account No. : 1032333