Teachers: the backbone of the DRC's education system

This Saturday, October 5, the world will celebrate World Teachers’ Day. For more than 30 years, this day has honored teachers around the globe. Organized by UNESCO, the International Labour Organization, and Education International, the 2024 edition’s theme is “Amplifying Teachers’ Voices: Toward a New Social Contract for Education.” On this occasion, it takes the opportunity to highlight the role of teachers in children’s education and to emphasize the importance of improving their working conditions. According to UNESCO, the choice of this year’s theme underscores “the urgency of incorporating their perspectives into educational policies and decision-making processes.” This commemoration also aims to assess the state of teaching quality and working conditions worldwide. In the DRC, teachers are the primary agents of development and societal transformation. According to UNESCO, the profound positive changes driven by this key actor can only be achieved with “well-supported, highly qualified, and motivated teachers who can provide an education that meets the needs of every learner in the era of knowledge societies, Industry 4.0, technology, and artificial intelligence.” It is with this in mind that the Congolese government has made teachers the very heart of its education system, notably through the provision of free public primary education, which has been in effect for four years now. Indeed, the government has implemented the Sectoral Strategy for Education and Training (SSEF 2016–2025), whose second pillar aims to create a high-quality education system. In addition to the ongoing salary increases for public school teachers since 2019, several training programs have been conducted by the Congolese government and its partners—including UNESCO and the World Bank—between 2016 and 2025, for the benefit of teachers, without whom quality education would not be possible. Deleine Diazolakana