Tony Mwaba kicks off training workshop for nursery and primary school inspectors

The head of the Department of Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education (EPST), Professor Tony Mwaba Kazadi, launched a training and capacity-building session for kindergarten and elementary school inspectors on Monday, March 11, 2024, during a ceremony held in the CREK hall in the Gombe district. This five-day workshop is organized by the Permanent Commission for the Supervision of Educational Operators of the EPST in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (COPEP), a body established by the relevant minister.

This training, which involves 50 SERNAFOR kindergarten and SERNAFOR primary school inspectors, will be led by an international trainer on a specific theme: "Understanding human development to support learning at the preschool and school levels." The objective here remains to improve the quality of education, in order to align with the second pillar of the 2016-2025 Sectoral Strategy for Education and Training (SSEF), a document that governs the Congolese education system in general and the EPST sub-sector in particular.

The relevance of this theme did not go unnoticed by Minister Tony Mwaba, who addressed all participants.

"Dear participants, from March 11 to 15, you will engage in intensive intellectual activity that will, I am convinced, enable you to recall the stages of early childhood and childhood development, and to ensure that learning, to be effective and efficient, is adapted to both the development and the skills of learners at each level," stated Professor Tony Mwaba.

The head of the EPST expressed his hope that the inspectors would give their best so that this training would yield positive results, both in terms of the content of the subjects included in the national curriculum—based on the teaching approaches adopted by the education system—and in terms of the child’s overall development.

"My most ardent wish is that this training be informed by your field experiences and address our need to develop and improve the Congolese education system. I therefore expect from each of you punctuality, diligence, and active, participatory engagement in every session of this training, so that you may derive the greatest benefit from it—which you will then pass on, through a multiplier effect, to the service of preschool educators and elementary school teachers for the benefit of Congolese children," he said.

For Minister Tony Mwaba, the EPST sub-sector is now focusing on the quality of learning, following instructions from the President of the Republic, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi, after the successful implementation of free primary education in the country’s public schools and consular schools. 

Christian BELLA