DINACOPE: Ministry experts at workshop to implement biometric teacher card

Experts from the Ministry of National Education and New Citizenship gathered on Monday, November 24, 2025, in Venus Bibwa for a ten-day workshop focused on the biometric identification of teachers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This meeting aims to assess the technical and logistical status of the implementation of the biometric card for teachers, a project essential to modernizing the education system. The main objective of this workshop is to establish a technical and organizational framework for the biometric identification of teachers, funded by the public treasury. Participants will also work on developing specifications to ensure the proper functioning and interoperability of the entire system. Teacher management is a crucial issue for improving efficiency and transparency within the National Directorate for Oversight, Payroll Preparation, and Management of Teacher and Administrative Staff in Educational Institutions (DINACOPE). Traditional methods of physical monitoring and salary payment have shown their limitations, particularly regarding fraud, duplicate payments, and delays in disbursements. The introduction of biometric identification aims to address these issues by simplifying and securing the teacher management process. This biometric identification will enable the issuance of bank cards, which will serve as electronic wallets, thereby facilitating access to salaries via ATMs. It will also ensure data authenticity and strengthen manual physical verification, thereby contributing to more rigorous management of teaching staff. The benefits of the biometric card extend beyond payroll management. It will serve as a reliable database of teaching staff, enabling better human resources management and securing identities. Furthermore, it can be used as a multifunctional official document to access various services and facilitate identity verification during administrative procedures. This program is part of the second guiding principle of the Ministry’s 2024–2029 five-year plan, which aims to strengthen the administration for the implementation of educational reforms. Serge Kimbila and Marie France Pala