Improving the quality of teaching: Catholic school prefects equipped to draw up school projects

Teaching school principals how to develop a sound school development plan was the goal of a capacity-building session held on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, which brought together principals from Catholic charter schools in the educational provinces of Kinshasa-Tshangu and Mont-Amba. This training session was led by Boniface Beya Ngindu, advisor to Minister Tony Mwaba in charge of monitoring and evaluation. In his presentation, the minister’s advisor demonstrated that the development of the school development plan is a key component of the sectoral strategy for education and training. “We have observed that in many schools, school principals and their committees do not develop the school development plan, which is why we *came* to speak with them about this, especially since it is a key recommendation of the sectoral strategy for education and training that we are *currently* implementing so that, in the end, we can conduct a thorough annual performance review,” he stated. He added, “The school development plan is a compass for every school, but it is also a document for reflection, capable of inspiring the school principal, their committee, and other partners to go further in improving the quality of education.” Father Romain Benoît Nyanga, provincial coordinator of the Catholic charter schools in Kinshasa, called on participants to meet the standards set forth in the guidelines. “There are positive and negative sanctions. The positive sanction is a transfer to another school *or retention in the position*. The negative sanction is well-known: you can be placed at the disposal of the state, because isn’t someone who doesn’t do what is expected of them exactly what the minister calls ‘anti-values’?” he suggested. With 38 years of experience as a school principal, the head of the Institut Sainte Monique in Kimbanseke, Mpolo Joliot Emmanuel, who participated in this activity, expressed his satisfaction with the training. “I am very satisfied with this training, which has added value to what I already have and will allow me to adjust my work methods for the benefit of my staff and, above all, our students. May the organizers continue to help us, as educators, to fine-tune our approaches so that our teaching becomes increasingly effective,” he said. To date, this activity has been organized in the educational provinces of Lukunga and Funa. In the coming days, this capacity-building session will also be held in the educational province of Kinshasa/Plateau. Ouriel Mangitukwa & Hugo Kambala