Kinshasa: Raïssa Malu inaugurates a new building at IST Kalamu

The Minister of State, Minister of National Education and New Citizenship (EDU-NC) Raïssa Malu, accompanied by Deputy Minister Jean-Pierre Kezamudru, inaugurated on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, a new building constructed on the grounds of the Kalamu Scientific and Technical Institute (ISTK) in the Kinshasa/Funa educational province.

In the presence of several national and provincial officials from the sub-sector, Minister of State Raïssa Malu cut the symbolic ribbon, thereby officially handing over the new building to its beneficiaries—the students and staff of IST Kalamu—before inviting them to make good use of it and take great care of it.

The Minister of EDU-NC also took this opportunity to pay tribute to the policy of free primary education in the DRC, initiated by the President of the Republic, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, a program that has enabled more than 4 million children to return to school across the country, necessitating a review of the capacity to accommodate these millions of students.

“The significant increase in the number of students in public schools following the policy of free primary education has made it imperative to expand capacity at the secondary level to ensure a smooth transition, guarantee better learning conditions, and enhance the quality of education for these students. This building, constructed to meet current educational requirements, contributes to the modernization of public schools and enhances their appeal,” she stated.

Raïssa Malu praised the quality of the work carried out by the National Directorate for the Construction, Maintenance, Rehabilitation, and Management of School Infrastructure (DINAC), which built the new building entirely with funding from the Ministry of National Education and New Citizenship, through its construction brigade.

The construction of this facility, located within the grounds of the Kalamu Scientific and Technical Institute, is part of the Ministry of National Education and New Citizenship’s efforts to improve learning conditions for students throughout the country.

On the sidelines of this inauguration ceremony, the audience observed a minute of silence in tribute to compatriots cut down by the injustice of the war of aggression imposed on the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Rwanda, through its M23 militias, before reciting, together with ISTK students, the citizen’s oath, the spearhead of efforts toward new citizenship.

The day was also enlivened by a series of demonstrations of technical expertise by the institute’s science and technology students, who presented to the Minister of Education a time-delay relay electric motor and, most notably, a three-wheeled electric vehicle, both of which they had created themselves.

The ISTK students concluded their demonstration by calling on Minister of State Raïssa Malu to provide their school with a fully equipped workshop, meeting international standards, to help them advance even further in their studies.

Christian BELLA