EPST works for inclusive and free education for all without discrimination

Every year on August 9, the world celebrates the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The date was chosen to commemorate the first meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, held in Geneva in 1982. Among other things, this day aims to raise public awareness of the needs and numerous challenges faced by these communities. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Ministry of Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education (EPST) is committed to ensuring that children from all corners of the country are free from any form of discrimination. These children also receive special attention from the new minister in charge, Tony Mwaba Kazadi, who is committed to making access to education more inclusive and free. In fact, in March 2022, Minister Tony Mwaba Kazadi signed a decree in Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur Province, mandating the provision of desks for schools serving indigenous peoples in this region of the country. This followed advocacy efforts by these Congolese citizens for the provision of desks in their schools in July 2021. Also in March 2022, as part of the "No School Without Desks" campaign, the minister officially handed over one thousand (1,000) desks to several schools in the city of Mbandaka. Similarly, school kits were distributed to students in the Equateur 1 Bikoro educational province in November 2022 by the Project for the Improvement of Education Quality (PAQUE). New buildings for Beni 1 Primary School in Bompenzele, 32 km from Mbandaka, were completed in June 2023 to facilitate learning under optimal conditions. As a reminder, indigenous peoples number 476 million people spread across 90 countries. They currently represent 5% of the world’s population. Deborah Kabuya