Ministries of Education and UNICEF agree to reclaim out-of-school children

In an effort to reach all out-of-school children and adolescents in the DRC, experts from the Ministries of National Education and New Citizenship, and of Social Affairs and Humanitarian Solidarity are sharing their experiences—with support from UNICEF—during a workshop that began on Monday, December 2, in Kinshasa-Gombe. According to statistics from household surveys and school censuses, the primary school completion rate has risen sharply, from 29% in 2011 to 75% in 2021; and the basic education completion rate is estimated at 52% in 2011, compared to 18% in 2011. These statistics reveal an overall increase in enrollment levels driven by two factors: a significant rise in access to school due to free public primary education, and a smaller but notable decrease in dropout rates. However, regarding the number of out-of-school children, it is estimated to have risen from 7.9 million in 2007 to 8.5 million in 2018, representing an increase of 600,000 over 10 years. It is in this context that this work is being carried out to gather all relevant and necessary information for the design and development of documents (concept note and budget) for the learning program aimed at out-of-school children and adolescents in the DRC. According to one of the facilitators, Albert Lubanza, Director General of Non-Formal Education at the Ministry of Social Affairs, radio was chosen as the ideal channel through which this education will reach the children in question.

“We are currently focusing our attention on the issue of children who are out of school. We wanted to combine this with radio-based education. The use of radio aims to reach a large number of out-of-school children. These children cannot read or do math, but they can listen to the radio,” he said.

At this stage, discussions are centered on four themes, namely: - Interactive education via radio, - Vocational training, - The remedial education center, - Coordination, monitoring, and evaluation. Each group is therefore expected to develop a concept note for this remedial program for out-of-school children, as well as a budget for implementing the various activities identified and listed by these experts. This residential workshop concludes this Friday, December 6, 2024, and is expected to result in the production of two working documents: the concept note and the budget for the radio program, remedial education centers, and vocational training, respectively. Willy Kambulu