The educational system in the Democratic Republic of Congo suffers from a severe lack of basic educational infrastructure. This issue is even more pronounced in remote areas like South Kivu, in the eastern part of the country.
Some schools do not have proper buildings, some classrooms lack desks, and very often, teachers have no teaching manuals or official curriculum documents.
For decades, the responsibility of educating children has fallen on the parents, not the government, while most families in these areas live below the poverty line.
The Mizimu Primary School, located in the Baraka municipality (Uvira-Fizu region, South Kivu), is no exception to this bleak picture. It receives nearly 750 boys and girls under poor educational conditions. Given the urgency of the situation, the RFI Club of Uvira decided to take action and find partners to improve the situation.
Maped 1% For Education Fund thus supported the AI-ODD association and the RFI Club Uvira in their project to equip the school with nearly 250 locally made wooden desks, significantly improving the learning conditions for the many students at the school.
RFI Clubs are associations of listeners of Radio France Internationale (RFI) that are spread across over a hundred countries worldwide. The commitment of RFI Clubs spans a wide range of areas, including education, entrepreneurship, sports, health, access to culture, information, and humanitarian and environmental action. They define themselves as powerful regional actors, carrying out micro-projects that provide solutions and development prospects while fostering social connections.
In the classrooms, pupils sat on stones, bricks or on the floor and took notes directly on their knees.
Conditions are improving with the desks, even if the pupils have to squeeze in a little.
The entire community is involved and gathered for the inauguration of the facility.
