Kinshasa-Mont Amba: "Only those who stand out in the test will be recruited as elementary school teachers or principals"(PROVED)

Astrid Nambuyi, director of the Kinshasa-Mont Amba Educational Province (Proved), launched on Wednesday, February 7, awareness-raising activities for members of the provincial and sub-provincial committees for Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education (EPST) regarding the new merit-based recruitment system for teachers and principals of public elementary schools. Speaking to 142 participants gathered at the Lumumba Institute in the Limete commune, the Proved of Kinshasa-Mont Amba explained the objective of this initiative: to recruit school principals and teachers in public primary schools based on their competencies in order to raise the standard of education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “Only those who distinguish themselves after the test will be recruited as primary school teachers or principals,” she stated. Astrid Nambuyi highlighted the efforts made by the National Minister of Education, Professor Tony Mwaba Kazadi, who, strictly following the instructions of President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi, has committed to addressing the challenge of improving educational quality following the successful implementation of free education. One of the speakers, Papy Ilunga, noted that this new recruitment system for teachers and principals of public primary schools is a reform aimed at building capacity and developing human resources in the primary education sector, with full transparency. The recruitment competition for teachers and principals will take place in two stages: a written exam and a practical skills assessment. The test for teachers will cover, among other things, French writing, educational psychology, and general knowledge, while for school principals, the interview will focus on educational psychology, school administration, the code of conduct for teaching staff, and the Complaint Management Mechanism (CMM), as well as general knowledge. Furthermore, to be selected as a principal, candidates must be Congolese nationals and have at least seven years of continuous experience in public primary education. This initiative was led by the EPST’s Human Resources Department (DRH), with support from the Equity and Education System Strengthening Project (Perse), a project of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) funded by the World Bank. JIREL Kitoko and Célestin Zeula