Itinerant Wednesday: Two school heads suspended for selling items to primary school pupils in Haut-Katanga 1

The inspection tour conducted by the director of the Haut-Katanga 1 educational province on Wednesday, May 25, 2023, in the Lubumbashi 2 Educational Province, specifically in the Katuba 3 Commune, in the Kaponda Sud neighborhood, resulted in severe sanctions as part of efforts to consolidate free primary education through the fight against anti-values, as advocated by Minister Tony Mwaba Kazadi. Accompanied by the provincial head of DINACOPE as part of the “Wednesday Outreach” initiative, PROVED Joseph Mwinkeu Tshiend suspended two school principals for, among other things, selling workbooks from previous years to students. In fact, sixth-grade students testified to local education authorities that the nun who serves as principal of Serafina Primary School engages in commercial activities at the expense of parents, despite instructions from higher authorities. According to these students, the school principal sold past editions of the ENAFEP (National Primary School Graduation Exam) from previous years for 5,000 FC, charged 5,000 FC for passport photos, sold March 8th traditional cloth to girls for 13,500 FC, and imposed fines of 20,000 FC on parents who were absent from meetings she convened. At Nyota Primary School, the principal took the liberty of forcing students to purchase past editions of the ENAFEP exam materials from him at 3,500 FC. As was to be expected, the educational authorities of Haut-Katanga Province have decided to suspend them immediately for engaging in such acts within the educational system at a time when primary education is free. In addition to their suspensions, these school principals are ordered to reimburse all illegally collected fees. It should be noted that this inspection was carried out by the provincial director the day after his return from a long trip to Kasumbalesa, where he had gone to pay his last respects to the chief inspector of the primary education pool, Luc Nseya Kapindula. Paulin Ngenda