Career guidance: DAETP director urges girls to follow their convictions

The director of the Administrative Directorate for Technical and Vocational Education (DAETP) at the Ministry of Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education (EPST) urged parents to help their children make the right career choice based on their interests. This took place during the closing ceremony of Women’s Month, held on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, under the theme, “Increasing the necessary resources for women and girls in peace for a gender-equal Congo.” DAETP Director Marie Idi Byoté stated that “women deserve consideration, respect, freedom of expression, and encouragement” before thanking the Head of State for promoting the rule of law. “We thank His Excellency the President of the Republic for his ongoing commitment to the rule of law, which has made it possible today, for the first time in the country’s history, to have a woman as Prime Minister.” For the director of the DAETP, women are the history of all humanity. “Don’t they say that educating a woman is educating an entire nation? For it is she who is at the origin, and it is she who gave birth to the nation,” she argued. She added, "Women are born leaders; they are the backbone of their communities, the essential pillar of their households, and the enduring catalyst for the change that has been transforming the country for a long time." Unfortunately, notes Marie Idi Byote, these strengths and abilities are overlooked and prematurely stifled. Parents have a duty to guide their children Parents must guide their children—especially young girls, who are the future—to make choices from the heart, argued the director of the DAETP. "We note that the establishment of women’s rights has enabled women to exercise their abilities in any profession that was once specifically reserved for men (mechanics, masonry, shoemaking, agriculture, etc.)," Idi Byoté explained. The focus of this day echoes the theme selected at the international level for 2024, namely, "Investing in Women: Accelerating Progress at the National Level." This theme aligns with the objectives pursued by the DAETP leadership. It is worth noting that the Democratic Republic of the Congo dedicates the month of March to promoting women’s rights. This year, 2024, several activities have been organized in various provinces across the country focused on women’s rights. Indeed, without ambitious investments to scale up prevention programs, implement effective policies, and provide support services to combat violence against women and girls, the country will not succeed in ending gender-based violence by 2030. Diazolakana Deleine and Mawete Paola