A total of 1.6 million pupils in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are affected by the Rwandan war of aggression in the eastern part of the country. This was made clear by the Minister of State, Minister of National Education, Raïssa Malu, during a press briefing organized by the Minister of Communication and Media, Patrick Muyaya. The briefing focused on the impact of the Rwandan aggression on the education system in the provinces of North and South Kivu.
“I received a gloomy report of schools being overrun by war-displaced people. It’s not just where there’s fighting, but in several provinces. There are 1.6 million children affected. The difficulty we have is that our schools are being used as shelters for displaced people, in addition to the schools that have been destroyed and others occupied by armed groups. As a result, we have children where the fighting is going on who are disturbed, but also children where the fighting hasn’t happened who are also disturbed by the occupation of their schools by displaced people. So we’re having a huge impact on our education system”, declared Minister of State Raïssa Malu,
To enable students affected by this situation to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge, the Minister of National Education announced, during the same briefing, a readaptation of the teaching program, including a special State session for secondary school finalists.
“The State Examination will be adapted precisely for these populations. It will be a special session, unlike the rest of the country. What we really want is to save our children’s education and learning”, she said.
Raïssa Malu also spoke of the implementation of distance learning via available means, notably radio, television and the Internet.
“Every lesson not given to a child is a lesson lost, and it’s extremely difficult to get it back. When you prevent a child from receiving a normal education, you undermine their knowledge, skills and know-how. We are working with technical and financial partners to set up distance learning. This war situation is undermining the work done by the government. Beyond the infrastructure, the most important impact is on the pupils who are affected, deprived of their schooling, even though they are the adults of tomorrow. Education is sacred because its impact is short, medium and long term”, explained Madame Raissa Malu.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Minister Muyaya commented on the two communiqués issued by the Direction Générale des Douanes et Accises (DGDA) in North Kivu and Kinshasa. The one from North Kivu denies a false memo attributed to its Director, the content of which would be to consider all goods coming from occupied territories as coming from abroad.
The North Kivu DGDA denies this information.
For its part, the DGDA Kinshasa, informed of this memo, affirms that it is false.
Minister Muyaya drew the attention of journalists to false information circulating on social networks and called on them to beware of Rwandan poison.
Mitterrand MASAMUNA