Rehabilitation of official schools: Tony Mwaba closes Kinshasa stage with inauguration of Lycée Technique Professionnel de Matonge

As part of the program to renovate and build public schools in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Minister of Primary, Secondary and Technical Education (EPST), Professor Tony Mwaba Kazadi, inaugurated the Matonge Technical and Vocational High School in the municipality of Kalamu on Thursday, April 4, 2024. The school now has the capacity to accommodate more than 2,000 students. This inauguration marks the completion of the Kinshasa phase and shifts the focus to the provinces.

In his speech, Minister Tony Mwaba noted that the Matonge Technical and Vocational High School is one of six official schools that the Ministry of EPST had targeted for the first phase of rehabilitation in the city-province of Kinshasa, with the goal of making all these schools competitive—a standard once associated with private and charter schools.

"The reality is that among the competitive schools here in Kinshasa and across the country, the government has lost many schools that are now in a state of disrepair. That is why we decided to rehabilitate them, and today, with the School Infrastructure Directorate—an internal department that receives only operating funds—we have successfully inaugurated six schools. And this is the latest school to be inaugurated today," the minister emphasized.

The head of the EPST noted that following the capital, the second phase of rehabilitation and construction of public schools will focus on the country’s various provinces, where there are still several schools facing similar issues, with the aim of addressing them. Professor Tony Mwaba stated that this initiative, which he launched on the instructions of the President of the Republic, now allows the Congolese state to reclaim its monopoly over education and for partners to intervene only in terms of support.

"The government must return to its rightful place. This is precisely one of the aspects of restoring state authority in the field of education, and that is what we are currently doing," he said.

For the record, the School Infrastructure Directorate of the Ministry of EPST is currently in the midst of constructing a school in the Haut-Katanga 1 educational province, an educational institution that will welcome more than 5,000 students in the coming days.

Christian BELLA