Aminata Namasia launches distribution of textbooks and teaching materials to schools in the DRC

It was at the headquarters of Radio Télévision de l'Éducation (RTEDUC) that Aminata Namasia Bazego, Deputy Minister of Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education (EPST), officially launched the distribution of textbooks and teaching materials to schools across the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Monday, February 20, 2023. Through this initiative, the ministry aims to improve the quality of education throughout the country. In her speech, Deputy Minister Aminata Namasia emphasized that free primary education and improving the quality of education are among the Ministry of EPST’s top priorities, in line with the vision of the President of the Republic and Head of State, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo. To achieve this goal, she stated that the ministry has resolved, among other things, to build schools, furnish them with desks, and order a large batch of teaching materials, with the aim of creating a school environment that is sustainable, safe, protective, and conducive to student retention. The EPST’s second-in-command also noted that the ministry has received for primary schools, the national curriculum, the multilingual reading and writing program, the French reading and writing program, student textbooks, and teacher guides for health education for grades 1 through 6, as well as teacher guides for integrating life skills into the national curriculum. At the secondary level, she noted, the ministry has received curricula for various subjects in the science domain for grades 7 and 8 of basic education, the English textbook for the 4th year of the humanities track, the national curriculum for educational psychology, the national music curriculum, and chemistry textbooks for the 3rd and 4th years of the humanities track.   Regarding teaching materials and other resources, Aminata Namasia specified that the ministry has received, for primary and secondary schools, Roberval balances, electronic scales, botanical, zoological, and geographical teaching charts, illuminated and non-illuminated globes, weights, measuring cups, as well as rulers, set squares, and compasses.   “In addition to all the aforementioned materials, we have also received more than 30 containers of educational resources, and this week we will receive another 30,” she said, before highlighting the thorny issue facing the ministry: storage and the logistical means to deliver these materials to their primary recipients—students and teachers in the provinces. The Deputy Minister of EPST called on provincial directors and all other officials to use the textbooks and teaching materials received wisely and, above all, with due diligence to ensure a better future for Congolese children. Christian BELLA