Kisangani: Tony Mwaba officially launches the ENAFEP 2023 edition

The Minister of Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education (EPST), Professor Tony Mwaba Kazadi, launched the National Primary School Graduation Exam (ENAFEP) on Thursday, June 1, 2023, at the Athénée de Kisangani 1 and 2 Primary School in the Makiso district of Kisangani, Tshopo Province. This year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo registered 2,119,100 candidates, including 1,020,448 girls, distributed across 8,332 testing centers, two of which are located outside the country’s borders.

Today’s ceremony began with a moment of solemn remembrance for the thousands of children who lost their lives, notably due to the Rwandan atrocities in eastern DRC, the natural disaster in Kalehe, and the fire at Mwanga High School in Kolwezi. The Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, who delivered the opening address for the exams, asked the audience to observe a minute of silence in their memory.

Professor Tony Mwaba then emphasized that the holding of the ENAFEP in early June 2023 is proof of a return to normalcy in the schedule of certification exams, which had been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. He recalled that on July 5, 2022, he had launched the first edition of this exam in this very city. And at a time when the country is suffering the ravages of an unjust war imposed by the enemies of development, he was once again keen to honor Kisangani, the crucible of Congolese patriotism and nationalism.

For the head of the EPST, the ENAFEP symbolizes the country’s educational unity, serves as the cement of national cohesion, and enables the assessment of academic achievements by opening the doors to the final cycle of basic education for all those who manage to obtain their Primary School Completion Certificate.

Professor Tony Mwaba also expressed his delight that all final-year students from the north to the south, and from the east to the west of the DRC, had followed the same national curriculum before being tested on the same questions.

The minister urged all final-year primary students and their supervisors or graders to reject all forms of misconduct, a priority of his since taking the helm of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education. He reiterated that the ENAFEP is free of charge, a policy extended to private schools as well.

"No student is permitted to pay any fees until their Primary School Completion Certificate is issued, under penalty of facing all legal consequences," emphasized Professor Tony Mwaba.