EPST General Secretary launches scientific day on statistics

Ms. Christine Nepa Nepa, Secretary General of the Ministry of Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education (EPST), launched a seminar on Tuesday, October 31, in the "Gratuité" room at RTEDUC. The event was organized by the Directorate of Information for Education Management (DIGE). This day of reflection, held to mark Statistics Day, had as its theme: “Let’s Talk About School Statistics in the Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education Sub-sector.” In his welcoming remarks, the Director of DIGE, Mr. Wakandwa, thanked in turn the Head of State—champion of the Free Education reform—and the Minister of EPST for their leadership and dynamism in consolidating Free Education through the improvement of educational quality, before outlining the scope of this event. "This event is an opportunity for all of us to, on the one hand, promote the achievements of the Ministry of Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education in this area and, on the other hand, gather feedback from various consumers and users of this data in order to channel our efforts toward improving our services to the satisfaction of the general public," he said. In her opening remarks, Ms. Christine Nepa Nepa, who represented Minister Tony Mwaba, who was unable to attend, emphasized the mission of the DIGE, which is to produce official statistics for the ministry. "To be effective, this information must meet universally recognized quality standards," she noted. To achieve this, the head of the EPST administration emphasized the need to build bridges of collaboration between the various statistical datasets produced to enable efficient and effective decision-making. She then expressed her hope that this event would make a “valuable contribution” to the sector’s development. Several sessions took place during the workshops led by speakers from a wide range of backgrounds, ranging from in-house experts at the DIGE to university professors and technical partners. For example, the session on “Why Do We Talk About Statistics? The Role and Importance of Statistics,” led by Jovin Malala, Head of Research at the Higher Institute of Statistics; consumer opinions and considerations regarding school statistics produced by the EPST, led by Professor Emina Jacques, Director General of the School of Population and Development Sciences at the University of Kinshasa; and quality assurance and data security, presented by an expert from the DIGE’s Database Division. These various discussions enabled the participants—including the various department heads from the EPST’s directorates—to understand the importance of statistical data production. Namely, school statistics enable planning, management, and rational decision-making by political and administrative authorities at all levels. Alain Kinanga