Felix Tshisekedi: "My greatest satisfaction is free primary education".

President Tshisekedi ranks free primary education at the top of his list of achievements just a few months before the end of his first five-year term. The Congolese head of state made this statement in an interview given on the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of the DRC’s independence, this Saturday, July 8, 2023. “My greatest satisfaction is free primary education. It is a great joy to have learned that many children, especially young girls, have been able to return to school,” said President Tshisekedi. Given the DRC’s many natural resources, the President remains convinced that education is the cornerstone of the country’s development. “Only the Congolese people can develop this country. To do so, they must be educated, healthy, and united with their fellow Congolese. There are countries that do not have the minerals we have, that do not possess all these natural resources in the ground and underground. Yet they have succeeded perfectly thanks to human capital, which is acquired through education. “For me, education is the number one key—ahead of mining and agriculture—to developing this country. If we succeed in education, everything else will follow because we will have men and women who are trained and capable of facing all the challenges that arise. We must educate all our children. It is through education that we will curb all the ills we lament today, particularly corruption,” explained Félix Tshisekedi. At the same time, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo reiterated his commitment to extending free education to the secondary level. “This is a great victory, but still a small one, since not all Congolese children are in school. We must move on to secondary education, which must be free, but we must also return to the scholarship system of the MPR era, when the Executive Council funded certain scholarships,” he stated. It should be noted that at the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (EPST), which oversees this program, Minister Tony Mwaba Kazadi was, during the last cabinet reshuffle, one of the members of the Sama 1 government to be reappointed to the same position. Bruno Nsaka