Background paper prepared for

Education for All Global Monitoring R

Strong foundations: early childhood car

Early childhood care and educin the Democratic Republic of

Robert Vesituluta Youdi 2006

This paper was commissioned by the Education for All Global Minformation to assist in drafting the 2007 report. It has not been edopinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and shoGlobal Monitoring Report or to UNESCO. The papers can be cit“Paper commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2childhood care and education”. For further information, please co

2007/ED/EFA/MRT/PI/34 Original : French

the

eport 2007

e and education

ation (ECCE) Congo (DRC)

onitoring Report as background ited by the team. The views and uld not be attributed to the EFA ed with the following reference: 007, Strong foundations: early

ntact efareport@unesco.org

Contents Page Contents i List of tables ii Abbreviations and acronyms iv Map v Summary vi

1. Introduction 1 2. Review of official documents and overview of programmes for

early childhood care and education (ECCE) 2 Official documents Overview of institutions responsible for ECCE Care and participation, health, education NGOs providing ECCE programmes

3. Data on pre-schooling: supply and demand 9 Supply: nature of pre-school education Demand: who gets pre-school education? Which children have no access to pre-school education?

4. Protection and healthcare in early childhood 15 Children’s health Child nutrition

5. Main reasons for non-participation in ECCE programmes 20

6. Results of field survey of nursery schools 21 The founders, the teachers

The curriculum Pupil numbers by school and classes More pupils enrol when they are older School buildings, classrooms and furniture Distance between home and school School fees, languages used in teaching Advantages of pre-school education Detailed description of some nursery schools School A School B School C The village school 7. Conclusion 29 Bibliography 32 Notes 33 Appendix: National nursery education curriculum

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List of tables

Page Table 2.1 Age-groups in population and by area of residence 6 Table 3.1 Schools by province and type of management 9 Table 3.2 Teachers by province and percentage of women 9 Table 3.3 Children of 3-5 enrolled in formal pre-school education 11 Table 3.4 Pupil enrolment by province and gender 12 Table 3.5 Girls enrolled in each nursery, primary and secondary class 13 Table 3.6 Children under 14 living in different types of households 15 Table 4.1 Children under 5 with a growth chart, by social and economic type 17 Table 4.2 Malnutrition and births of children weighing less than 2.5 kg 19 Table 6.1 Number of nursery and primary pupils, classes and schools

and average number of pupils by school and class 23 Table 6.2 Children enrolled by location and age 24

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Abbreviations and acronyms

AFDL Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child DEPS Department of primary and secondary education DRC Democratic Republic of Congo ECCE Early Childhood Care and Education GDP Gross domestic product GER Gross enrolment ratio GPI Gender parity index HIV/AIDS Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus/Acquired Immuno-Deficiency

Syndrome INGO International non-government organisation IRC International Rescue Committee MAS Ministry of social affairs MEPSP Ministry of primary, secondary and professional education MES Ministry of higher education MICS Multiple indicator cluster survey MRRP Multisector rehabilitation and reconstruction programme MSP Ministry of health NGO Non-government organisation OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs PNLS National anti-AIDS programme PRSP Poverty reduction strategy paper PSC Pre-school consultation RDIO Compendium of official directives and instructions RESEN National education system progress report * SACW Situation analysis of children and women SERNAFOR National training service SIP Strengthened interim programme UIS UNESCO Institute for Statistics UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UMTP Updated minimum triennial programme WHDR World Human Development Report WHO World Health Organisation

* This document was published by the World Bank as Le renouveau du système éducatif de la République Démocratique du Congo: Priorités et alternatives. (Région Afrique, Département du Développement humain, Série Documents de travail - N° 68). The quotes used here are taken from the World Bank version.

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Summary The DRC gives great importance to the expansion of early childhood care and education, as shown by various official documents, but its children still suffer from inadequate access to their rights to health and education because of lack of resources. The nursery school is the dominant model in ECCE programmes. In a population of more than 5 million children between 3 and 5, only 68,710 attend 1,200 pre-school establishments, mainly in urban areas, nearly all of them privately-owned and funded entirely by parents. The sector’s priorities are monitoring curriculum quality and opening more schools so as to serve the rural population and the very poor.

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1. Introduction The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s more than 50 million people make it the third most populous country in Africa and the 20th in the world. At 2.3 million km², it is also Africa’s third biggest country and the world’s 12th. It has huge above- and below-ground riches whose potential is wasted. Yet the DRC is one of the world’s poorest countries, where per capita GDP sank from $170 in 1989 to $117 in 1993 and $74 in 2001 (PRSP, 2002), where nearly 80% of households live on less than a dollar per person per day (WHDR, 2003). This contradiction has many different causes, one of them the country’s tumultuous history since independence in 1960.

The National Human Development Report highlights the institutional weaknesses and personalisation of power that have led to conflict and constant violence. First came the Katanga and Sud-Kasaï wars of secession between 1961 and 1963, then armed rebellions between 1963 and 1965 and others in 1967, 1977 and 1978. Strikes and protests erupted, especially among students in 1969, 1971 and 1986, and in 1990 with massacres at the University of Lubumbashi, and looting in 1991 and 1993. An uprising between 1996 and 1997 ended the Second Republic.

The hopes raised when the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) came to power in 1997 quickly vanished with the foreign attack on the country in 1998, which resulted in one of the world’s bloodiest conflicts since World War II, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC). A heavy human toll resulted from the intensity and persistence of recent fighting, the number of regular armies involved for nearly three years, the number of militias and irregular fighters, the extent of the war zones and the large number of people driven from their homes.

The IRC puts the deaths at 3.3 million. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of

Humanitarian Affairs says internal refugees numbered 400,000 during the first phase (August-December 1998), 700,000 during the second (January-July 1999) and 3.4 million during the third, which lasted from the signing of the Lusaka Accords in July 1999 until May 20031. The entire population suffered, especially inhabitants of the war zones. As often, women and children were hit very badly.

A large number of the deaths and of the over 4 million refugees were children, who suffered because they lived in the war zones. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says that, for example, at Basankusu (Equateur province), about 25% of children under 5 died over a one-year period, while the comparable nationwide mortality rate was only 3.6%. Many died from malnutrition and lack of healthcare and many others died in the forests they had fled to after their villages were attacked. Those who survived were traumatised by the horrific things they saw or were even forced to participate in.

The war and the conflicts also created other vulnerable groups of children such as child soldiers, street children (shégués) and orphans. The DRC has one of the highest numbers of child soldiers in the world – between 15 and 30,000, the youngest barely 8 years old, and comprising half of some militias. Kinshasa alone has some 15,000 street children. But orphans are by far the biggest group.2 UNICEF’s Rapport d’analyse de l’Enquête nationale sur la situation des enfants et des femmes (MICS2/2001) said 3.1% of children under 14 had lost their mother or both parents, while 9% were being looked after

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by other families where they were very often made to do housework and were enrolled in school less often than children living with both parents.

The atmosphere of crisis and violence badly affected the population, especially young children, who need protection and special healthcare to survive and grow. This paper describes the state of care and education in early childhood (ECCE) in the DRC. The next part (2) reviews government documents on the subject and gives an overview of the target population and those in charge of their care and education. Part 3 gives data on supply and demand for pre-school education, which is the main formal programme of care and education available for young children in the DRC, and describes the groups with no access to it. Part 4 deals with the facilities, apart from pre-school programmes, for children under 6 not at school or not old enough to attend nursery school. Part 5 explains why so many children do not take part in early childhood programmes. Part 6 completes the earlier ones with data from a November 2005 field survey.

2. Review of official documents and overview of programmes for early childhood care and education (ECCE)

Official documents

The DRC follows the various options in the international conventions about child care and education. It has signed the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and pledged to continue the progress made towards the goals of the World Summit for Children (New York, 1990). It has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by a 1990 decree and in 1992 implemented a National Action Programme for the Survival, Protection and Promotion of the Mother and Child.

One of the most recent official documents on the subject is the Draft Child Protection Code passed by parliament and now waiting for the president to enact it. Its 179 articles concern “all people under 18” (Article 2). It is much the same as laws in other countries but has special features to account for local culture, such as mention of children accused of witchcraft, one of the main reasons for so many street children in towns and cities. Article 55 (f) defines such children as “in difficulty.”

In line with articles 63 to 65 of the Child Protection Code, the social affairs

ministry issued a decree on 8 April 2003 setting up a National Council for the Child (CNEN), with representatives of 13 ministries, the five main churches, the National Street Children’s Rehabilitation Programme (PNRER) and NGOs working with children. Council members work in specialist commissions focusing on health and nutrition, early childhood, education, the environment, promotion and protection of children’s rights and other topics.

Despite these documents and government intentions, local institutions are still not strong enough to fully implement children’s rights because of the country’s longstanding social and economic crisis. In practice, the only institution that serves early childhood is pre-school education, which unfortunately serves only a tiny fraction of those concerned and then thanks to private efforts.

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Policy documents over more than 35 years dealing with setting up and running nursery schools can be found in the Compendium of Official Directives and Instructions (RDIO), published by the documentation and archives centre of the documentation and educational media division of the ministry of primary, secondary and professional education (MEPSP). It includes the directives, decrees, orders, circulars and instructions about the education system. Among these are: 1970 - Opening nursery schools.

After many requests for permission to open nursery schools or crèches, the

education ministry issued Circular EDN/PS/831.1/0815/70 on 26 March 1970 (RDIO p.154) saying the government welcomed private initiative to this end since such schools could help give pre-school children social security and help their transition from family life to primary school. 1974 - Opening of nursery/crèche schools and classes

Four years later, after the haphazard setting-up of nursery/crèche schools, the

education ministry issued Circular EDN/PS/831/CAB/001/199/74 on 7 February 1974 (RDIO p.158) listing the documents needed to open such schools. An appendix specified the size of the land and the classrooms, the ceiling height, colour of paint for the walls, size of the furniture, number of toilets and washbasins and said windows should face north and south. 1976 - School regulations issued – standard nursery school

In Circular EDN/ES/831/1/DG/1002/76 of 21 May 1976 (RDIO p.154), the

education ministry sent details of a standard nursery school to provincial governors. Its 21 articles required each nursery and primary school head to set opening and closing times with approval of local authorities and taking account of local conditions. 1981 - Single-class nursery schools

In Circular DEPS/IGE/8511/SG/000576/81 of 14 March 1981, the education

ministry asked nursery school heads to provide each age-group (3, 4 and 5) with appropriate material and avoid single classes of children at quite different stages of physical, mental and emotional development. 1981 - Inclusion of nursery classes in primary class inspections

After observing that pre-school education inspectors were negligent in monitoring

nursery schools, the ministry ordered these be grouped with primary classes for inspection. (Circular EDN/EPS/IGE/ 8511/SG/80/001194/81 of 16 April 1981, RDIO p.161). 1982 - Compulsory implementation of the national nursery education curriculum

The ministry Circular DEPS/SP/840/000636/82 of 1 June 1982 (RDIO p.161) noted

that nearly all public and private nursery schools used a curriculum other than the one set by the department of primary and secondary education and ordered the national nursery education curriculum to be strictly applied.3

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1986 - Education Framework-Law 86/005 of 22 September 1986

This law (RDIO pp.18-43), which today governs the country’s education system,

puts nursery education on a par with other levels of education. Its article 16 says these are nursery, primary, secondary, higher and university levels. Article 18 says nursery education is an optional three years and is open to children from the age of three.

The law says such education aims to “bring out a child’s personality through education in a family and social setting, develop their sensory, motor and social skills and prepare them for primary education.” Nursery education is mentioned a score of times in the law’s 152 articles. This paper will refer to the Framework-Law to explain various structural and operational aspects of the pre-school sector or to illustrate the non-implementation of government rules for nursery education. 1997 - National nursery education curriculum

The education ministry announced that it and the national commission for

UNESCO had published a national nursery education curriculum, which was “one of the most detailed documents for this level of education” in the country.

As well as these documents, that give a brief history of pre-school education in the DRC, the MEPSP’s organisational chart shows several departments linked to the sector, such as the inspection corps, which includes a national assistant inspector for nursery schools, and a national training service (SERNAFOR), which has a nursery schools section. The social affairs ministry also has departments dealing with care of children. Overview of institutions responsible for ECCE

Despite signature of all the international conventions, the presidential and ministerial decrees and the existence of all the ministry departments and sections, government efforts do not meet the needs of early childhood in either health, nutrition or education.

About 12 million children under 6 are targeted by special programmes. Results of the Enquête nationale sur la situation des enfants et des femmes (MICS2/2001), in the table below, show 10,390,000 children younger than 59 months (18.9% of the population), to which must be added an estimated 1.5 million aged 5 (60 months). Apart from the family, who or what is the ultimate provider of care, protection, education and health for these 12 million children?

Table 2.1: Age-groups in population and by area of residence =========================================================== Age-group Urban __ Rural _Entire country_

% thousand % thousand % thousand ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0 - 11 months 4.0 687 4.3 1,648 4.2 2,335

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12 - 23 months 4.0 678 4.1 1,557 4.1 2,235 24 - 59 months 10.2 1,742 10.8 4,077 10.6 5,819 5 - 17 years 35.1 5,996 36.8 13,953 36.3 19,949 Over 18 46.7 7,959 44.0 16,679 44.8 24,638 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Population 100 17,062 100 37,914 100 54,976

(31%) (69%) (100)

Source: MICS2/2001, Table 3.3, p. 50 Over the last 20 years, the DRC has produced several medium-term development plans and programmes – the 1986-90 five-year plan, the 1997-99 minimum triennial programme, the 1999-2002 updated minimum triennial programme (UMTP) designed by the government with UNDP and World Bank help, the 2001-02 strengthened interim programme (SIP) drafted by the government with the help of the Bretton Woods institutions, and the 2002-05 multisector rehabilitation and reconstruction programme (MRRP). Most of these plans focused on political and economic aspects but the ministries involved did make progress in providing social services, especially for children. Care and participation

Protection of children’s rights comes under the ministry of justice and the ministry of human rights (the former ministry of social affairs and citizens’ rights and freedoms). The government has been quite concerned to enhance the status of children, especially after the 1990 World Summit for Children. Since 1996, the social affairs ministry (MAS) and its general secretariat for the family has included departments for protection of the child and for legal affairs, a national child council and a family documentation centre. The social affairs ministry is not decentralised enough, so its department’s field operations are carried out with the help of NGOs and the health ministry for health and nutrition education, the youth and sports ministry for promoting ethics and the MEPSP for family life education. The social affairs ministry is unfortunately often pushed aside and the sector was no longer included in the the 1997 and 1999 triennial programmes. Health Promotion and protection of the health of the population, especially children, is the job of the health ministry (MSP), which has been involved in major reforms through the signing of the Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care, a 1998 survey of the health sector and the holding of a national health conference in 1999. After ratifying the African Charter on Health for All, the DRC decided to combine grassroots preventive health education with healthcare and apply the principle of community healthcare. It set up a system of 306 health zones, though only a third of them are operating so far. With bilateral aid, the MSP has launched an extended vaccination programme to provide adequate coverage. The DRC has also held national vaccination days since 1998, with the aim of vaccinating all children under 5, as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The MSP is also trying to increase vaccination coverage against measles, TB, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, which are common in young children.

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Education For several years, the education sector was under a single ministry with two general secretariats, one for primary and secondary education and the other for higher education and scientific research. Three ministries now run the sector – the ministry of primary, secondary and professionnel education (MEPSP), the ministry of higher education (MES) and the ministry of scientific research. Early childhood education, especially pre-school education for children between 3 and 5, comes under the MEPSP. Contact was made with the MEPSP to encourage greater interest in UNESCO’s work to promote early childhood education. This work, part of basic education and also done by other divisions and sectors, includes publicity and data-gathering for early childhood education, information exchange about structures and innovative early childhood projects in West and Central Africa, support for and production of radio programmes about early childhood in French-speaking African countries and setting up a network to improve early childhood education policies and programmes. NGOs providing ECCE programmes Apart from these public bodies, many national NGOs and international ones (INGOs) provide ECCE programmes. The main one is obviously UNICEF, which has various projects around the country. Most figures and data on DRC children used in this paper come from two recent UNICEF-funded surveys done with government help: the Enquête nationale sur la situation des enfants et des femmes (MICS2/2001) and the Analyse de la situation des enfants et des femmes (ASEF). Other INGOs in the field include Terre des Enfants, a French-Swiss humanitarian group that runs seven orphanages housing 2,300 children in the eastern district of Ituri. Swedish INGOs are also active in the east, mainly in Sud-Kivu province, where they are building churches and providing aid and orphanages. CAREO (Centre des abandonnés et de réintégration des enfants orphelins), in Kasai Oriental and Nord-Kivu, cares for orphans, child war refugees, street children and youngsters accused of witchcraft.

The Congrégation des Sœurs Missionnaires Pallotines set up the Matumaini nutrition centre in Nord-Kivu for abandoned refugee children after the Rwandan genocide in the DRC. The Belgian NGO Nord-Sud Coopération opened the Village d’Enfants Ndosho orphanage in the Goma region for children abandoned during the bloody fighting in the east. ADRA built a school for orphans of all ages in Makobola and then, to cope with the number of children, set up an orphanage nearby. War Child UK funds four centres for abandoned children in Mbandaka (Equateur province) that cares for vulnerable children abandoned or separated from their families because of the war. These examples show that INGOs focus on the eastern and northern DRC, which has suffered most from the war. Among the national NGOs funded by foreign groups or organisations are three orphanages linked to the Women’s World Summit Foundation (WWSF): the Fondation Orphelinat au Congo (FOC), the Forum aux orphelins des sinistres et épidémies and the Orphelinat Chars de feu. Kinshasa also has many orphanages run by nuns or situated in or near hospitals to care for abandoned babies. Some facilities are privately run by women

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who manage to get funding from foreign aid partners or donors. One of these is the Ange Gabrielle orphanage, which opened in Kinshasa in 2001 with just three children and today houses 40, including 17 girls aged between six months and 5 years. Another is the Bana ya Kivuvu centre which is in the process of building in order to house totally abandonned children. .

National NGOs providing ECCE are funded by foreign organisations, mostly Western European or North American religious groups that work with local churches or groups of individuals. As mentioned, some of these NGOs are members of the National Council for the Child (CNEN).

3. Data on pre-schooling: supply and demand Supply: nature of pre-school education

The only formal early childhood programme is pre-school education. The MEPSP’s Annuaire statistique 2001/02 says 68,710 children were enrolled nationwide for pre-primary education in 1,201 schools. Table 3.1 shows only 4.3% of these schools were public and the rest semi-public ones run by religious orders (8.2%) and private schools (87.5%). Most were in towns and cities, more than half of them (61.2%) in the capital, Kinshasa. The last column in the table shows the relative size of each province. Katanga occupies 21.2% of the country4 but only has 48 nursery schools (4% of the total). Table 3.1: Schools by province and type of management =========================================================== Type of management Schools % of total Government Church Private no. % area pop’n ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kinshasa 5 14 715 734 61.2 0.4 10.3 Bandundu - 5 24 29 2.4 12.6 11.6 Bas-Congo 25 10 48 83 6.9 2.3 6.3 Equateur - 6 3 9 0.7 17.2 10.0 Kasaï-Occidental 7 - 15 22 1.8 6.6 8.8 Kasaï-Oriental 2 8 51 61 5.1 7.3 9.2 Katanga - 6 42 48 4.0 21.2 13.9 Maniema5 - - - - - 5.6 2.8 Nord-Kivu 4 18 44 66 5.5 2.5 7.2 Orentale 4 26 43 73 6.1 21.5 12.8 Sud-Kivu 5 5 66 76 6.3 2.8 7.1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRC 52 98 1.051 1201 100 100 100 (4.3%) (8.2%) (87.5) Source: DRC Annuaire statistique 2001/02

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Teaching in nursery schools is done exclusively by women, who are concentrated in the capital (62.5%) where most of the schools are. A very small number of men help run some schools. When asked why only women teach in nursery schools, the heads say it is due to tradition and that no man would dare apply for a job as a nursery school teacher, or else they joke about it. Table 3.2: Teachers by province and percentage of women ============================================================= no. of % of % of no. of no of classes 6 teachers teachers women classes teachers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kinshasa 1,865 62.5 99.5 3,512 1.9 Bandundu 88 2.9 96.5 162 1.8 Bas-Congo 205 6.9 99 460 2.2 Equateur 21 0.7 100 42 2.0 Kasaï-Occidental 39 1.3 97 96 2.5 Kasaï-Oriental 113 3.8 100 228 0.9 Katanga 130 4.3 99 243 1.9 Maniema - - - - - Nord-Kivu 181 6.1 100 364 2.0 Orientale 192 6.4 98.9 392 2.0 Sud-Kivu 151 5.1 98.6 305 2.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRC 2,985 100 100 5,804 1.9 Source: DRC Annuaire statistique 2001/02 Demand: who gets pre-school education?

A total of 68,710 children (1.29%) were enrolled in 2001 in a 3-5 age group of about 5,330,000, according to the Annuaire statistique, which said 33,368 were in the final year of nursery school and 1,312,183 pupils went on to the first year of primary school. So, only about 2.5% went to primary school after some kind of formal pre-school education. These figures are slightly lower than in the MICS2/2001 survey, which gives a nationwide pre-school figure of 3%. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) puts the ECCE gross enrolment ratio at 0.8%. Table 3.3: Children of 3-5 enrolled in formal pre-school education ================================== % --------------------------------------------------- Area of residence Urban 7.2 Rural 0.9 Capital and provinces

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Kinshasa (the capital) 10.6 Provinces (average) 2.3 Social and economic level Poorest 1.0 Poor 0.6 Medium 1.4 Rich 2.0 Richest 9.6 Mother’s education None 0.7 Primary 1.3 Secondary or higher 7.3 Gender Male 3.1 Female 2.9 Age 3 and 4 years 1.5 5 years 4.4 ----------------------------------------------------------- Entire country 3.0 =================================== Source: MICS2/2001

Results of the survey show very limited access to pre-school education, which benefits mainly urban children (especially in Kinshasa) with rich parents and a mother with secondary or higher education. Table 3.4: Pupil enrolment by province and gender =========================================================== % of total % no. % population enrolled enrolled of girls ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kinshasa 10.3 59.0 40,568 49.9 Bandundu 11.6 2.6 1,789 56.5 Bas-Congo 6.3 7.4 5,070 47.9 Equateur 10.0 1.1 735 74.47 Kasaï-Occidental 8.8 1.3 906 50.1 Kasaï-Oriental 9.2 6.0 4,091 50.6 Katanga 13.9 4.3 2,974 50.7 Maniema 2.8 - - - Nord-Kivu 7.2 6.6 4,516 49.6 Orientale 12.8 6.1 4,222 49.6 Sud-Kivu 7.1 5.6 3,839 48.7 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRC 100 100 68,710 50.2 ===========================================================

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Source: Annuaire statistique 2001/02 and MICS2/2001

The percentage of girls in total nursery education is 50.2%, but as at other levels of education, the figure steadily falls as children get older – from 51.3% at 3 years old to 50.1 at 4 and 49.9 at 5, which is a 2.7% drop. The figure in primary falls from 45.5 to 40.3% from the first to the sixth year (down 11.4%) and in secondary from 39.2% to 32.1% (down 18.1%). These rates are much higher than in most of the region’s French-speaking countries, however. The gender parity index (GPI) is also higher than 1 from the first year of nursery school and throughout the pre-school sector, meaning there are slightly more girl pupils than boys. Table 3.5: Girls enrolled in each nursery, primary and secondary class (%) =========================================== Class Nursery Primary Secondary ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st year 51.3 45.5 39.2 2nd year 50.1 44.8 37.9 3rd year 49.9 44.4 36.4 4th year 43.5 35.4 5th year 42.1 34.0 6th year 40.3 32.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 50.2 43.9 36.7 ========================================== Sources: Tables I.1.1, II.1.1 and III.1.1 in the Annuaire Statistique 2001/02. Which children have no access to pre-school education? These figures show that those who get least pre-school education are rural (over 90%), poor (90%) and children of uneducated mothers (over 90%). Their plight could improve fairly quickly if conditions did, but some groups of children will never have access to education without a special government effort. As shown in the following paragraphs, these groups of children deserve a special attention.

Goal 8 set by the World Summit for Children calls for “protection of children in especially difficult circumstances.” The first goal of the Dakar Education for All (EFA) meeting in 2000 was to “expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.” The MICS2/2001 survey focused on three categories of children “in difficult circumstances” – orphans, those handicapped and those not living with their parents. Two other groups can be added – street children and those with HIV/AIDS.

The survey shows that 2% of the entire population under 14 is handicapped in some way and are more numerous in the countryside (2.1%) than in towns and cities (1.6%). The percentage increases with age – from 1.2% (children under 4) to 2.1% (5-9) and 2.9%

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(10-14). Among children with a handicap, 78% have physical ones (movement, hearing, sight or speech) and 15% mental ones. The survey does not say what percentage of the handicapped are enrolled in pre-school or primary education, but very few are. Only one of the nursery schools visited in November 2005 said it had admitted such a child, with a movement handicap, who had to drop out after a few months because it was too difficult.

The survey found that 31% of children lived in households without both biological parents (17% with just their mother, 4% with only their father and 10% with neither) because of death or residence elsewhere, and were thus more exposed to negligence and exploitation. NGOs say some of these children end up living on the street.

The survey said 6% of children below 14 had no father, 2% no mother and 1% neither. Table 3.6 shows that provinces directly affected by the war (Sud-Kivu, Nord-Kivu and Equateur) have most orphans.

The National Anti-AIDS Programme (PNLS) said in 2002 that children under 5 were one of the four groups hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. The four are adults between 20 and 29 (16%), 30 and 39 (10.5%), children under 4 (7.5%) and people between 40 and 49 (6.5%). Females are most affected, except in the fourth group, and those least affected are children between 5 and 9, 10-14 and 15-19 (about 2%) and people over 50 (just under 2%).

The PNLS said HIV/AIDS cases spiralled after 1986, from 4.5% of the population in 1990-94 to nearly 8% in 2000/01. The rate is higher in towns and cities than the countryside and much higher in eastern provinces. The increase is because of the many displaced people, the influx of refugees from abroad and especially the arrival of troops from countries with a high infection rate (Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Zimbabwe). The PLNS report gives no data on programmes to help infected children under 4. Table 3.6: Children under 14 living in different types of households (%) ===============================================================

Orphans Orphans Both parents One or other (no mother) (no father) dead dead

(1) (2) (3) (1+2+3) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Area of residence Urban 2.0 5.6 1.2 8.8 Rural 2.2 6.4 0.9 9.5 Province

Kinshasa 2.1 5.7 1.6 9.4 Bas-Congo 2.9 4.4 0.6 7.9

Bandundu 1.5 4.7 0.7 6.9 Equateur 2.5 6.7 1.5 10.7 Orientale 2.0 5.8 0.7 8.5 Nord-Kivu 3.0 8.3 1.3 12.6 Sud-Kivu 2.7 10.1 1.5 14.3 Maniema 3.6 5.3 0.1 9.0 Katanga 1.6 6.7 1.0 9.3 Kasaï Oriental 1.8 5.7 0.5 8.0

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Kasaï Occidental 1.8 5.1 1.3 8.2 Social and economic level

Poorest 2.1 7.1 0.8 10.0 Poor 2.2 6.6 1.0 9.8

Medium 2.0 6.0 0.9 8.9 Rich 2.2 5.6 1.0 8.8 Richest 2.1 5.6 1.4 9.1 Age of child (years) 0 - 4 0.8 3.2 0.2 4.2 5 - 9 2.1 6.6 1.1 9.9 10 - 14 3.9 9.7 2.1 15.7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total 2.1 6.2 1.0 9.3 Source: MICS2/2001 4. Protection and healthcare in early childhood

One of the main conclusions of the situation analysis of children and women (SACW/ASEF) done by UNICEF and the DRC government as part of implementation of the rights of children and women to health, education, protection and participation is that no formal programme exists for the psychological, social or educational awakening or training for children under 3. Mukeni-Beya8 says the various education laws do not mention them at all. She says crèches and kindergartens are mostly run by private organisations in the big cities (Kinshasa and Lubumbashi) and almost all their pupils are children of expatriates.

The data above shows that nursery schools are the only formal facilities for pre-school-age children. But less than 3% have access to them, so the education of more than 97% of children between 3 and 5 and all those under 3 is left to parents, extended families or the community. In the very first months of life, the mother provides all basic needs (nutrition, health and protection). The women’s affairs ministry’s 1994 national report on the situation of women said 98% of women worked9 and 93% of married women and female heads of households worked in the informal sector to meet their needs for food, health and education. So mothers have to urgently arrange for care and supervision of their children from the earliest age.

Children in the countryside stay with their mothers when they go to work in the fields. They are gathered in the shade of a tree to play or sleep and the women look in on them every now and then or else they carry them strapped to their backs. Mothers in the informal sector do the same, taking the children to the workplace even when conditions are bad for their health and development, as in market or street vending which is very common. The mothers are too busy to pay much attention to them and they are left to themselves and play with whatever they find nearby.

In towns and cities, the arrangements depend on the mother’s kind of work and where it is and the resources the parents have. Children are usually left at home to be looked after by older children, grandparents or other extended family members. Where

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there are double-shift primary or secondary schools, parents fix for some of the older children to attend in the morning and the others in the afternoon.10 Better-off families have a maid or get someone to come from their village to look after the children who do not yet go to school. Few of those who do go stay the whole day, as nursery schools only operate in the mornings.

These are some of the arrangements parents make to care for their children who do

not go to nursery school and for those not yet old enough to go. But children also need healthcare and other attention. Articles 6 and 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child say they have the right to life, survival and a standard of living adequate for their physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. We now look at the health and nutrition of children under 6. Children’s health

The DRC government accepts its responsibility for people’s health but the SACW notes that it has not yet done everything needed to reduce child mortality, combat childhood diseases, provide ante- and post-natal care, expand preventive health facilities, eradicate traditional practices harmful to health and ensure mothers get proper health information.

The MICS2/2001 survey showed that only 22% of children aged between 12 and 23 months had a vaccination card, down from the 30% recorded by MICS1/1995, or a 26.6% drop in six years. Vaccination coverage of this group before their first birthday was 51% for TB, 39% for measles and polio and 28% for diphtheria and whooping cough. 19% had not been vaccinated against any disease, most of them in the poorest rural households with uneducated mothers.

Another service available in all the country’s operational health zones is pre-school consultation (PSC). All children under 5 are supposed to have a growth card for this but the survey showed only 19% presented one, 26% did not have it on them and 5% said they had lost it. Fuller details are in Table 4.1. Table 4.1: Children under 5 with a growth chart, by social and economic type (%) ========================================================

Has a card Has no card Presented Not presented Lost ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Area of residence Urban 24.0 33.3 7.5 35.3 Rural 15.8 22.8 4.3 57.1 Social and economic level Poorest 15.6 17.7 2.1 64.7 Poor 10.0 22.9 4.4 62.7 Medium 19.8 23.3 5.4 51.5 Rich 17.1 32.1 6.5 44.3 Richest 30.2 34.9 8.1 26.7 Mother’s education

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None 12.3 21.2 4.1 62.4 Primary 17.9 23.3 5.4 53.4 Secondary or higher 25.3 34.8 6.3 33.6 Unknown 18.8 38.1 9.0 34.1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entire country 18.5 26.2 5.3 50.0 Source: MICS2/2001, Table 7.14 (p. 145)

The MICS2/2001 survey showed that a fifth of children between 12 and 23 months had not been vaccinated, with big differences between urban and rural areas and between provinces – 12% of children in rural areas, 23% in urban ones and the lowest coverage in war zones. Child nutrition

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that child nutrition be assessed from weight, height and age. The MICS2/2001 survey provided data on nutrition of children under 6, but only two aspects are dealt with here – chronic and acute malnutrition. The first is calculated from the height/age ratio and measures the growth retardation caused by malnutrition in the past. The second is based on the weight/height ratio and indicates the current state of nutrition. MICS2/2001 showed alarming malnutrition among children below 59 months. Chronic malnutrition (or retarded growth) nationwide was 38%, including 20% with severely retarded growth. Acute malnutrition was 13%, including 3% severe.

Two other significant nutrition indicators are the percentage of babies born

weighing less than 2.5 kg and also underweight children. Birth weight is a measure of the mother’s nutritional state and a sign of whether the child will live. The weight/age ratio or low birth weight reflects both the current and past situation and is the simplest and most classic indicator used by health services because it shows the combined effect of chronic and acute malnutrition. The MICS2/2001 survey showed that 31% of children under 5 were underweight, including 9% seriously so. Table 4.2: Malnutrition and births of children weighing less than 2.5 kg ================================================================ Malnutrition (%) % born Chronic (height/age) Acute (weight/height) under 2.5 kg Moderate Severe Moderate Severe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Area of residence Urban 28.9 13.4 12.1 2.5 9.0 Rural 42.6 23.7 14.1 3.4 12.6 Province Kinshasa 19.9 8.4 14.3 2.7 9.1 Bas-Congo 43.1 23.6 9.2 1.4 10.8 Bandundu 36.7 19.6 16.5 4.5 16.1

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Equateur 40.7 20.4 16.2 4.4 7.6 Orientale 39.8 20.9 9.6 1.4 10.5 Nord-Kivu 45.4 24.2 9.9 3.1 13.5 Sud-Kivu 47.6 27.5 12.2 4.1 8.6 Maniema 45.5 24.6 9j5 3.0 13.5 Katanga 38.3 19.5 15.1 3.1 12.7 Kasaï-Orient. 36.6 20.4 14.2 3.5 10.9 Kasaï-Occid. 38.7 21.7 16.9 3.9 4.8 Social and economic level Poorest 43.0 24.2 13.0 2.9 10.5 Poor 42.4 23.1 15.4 3.1 12.3 Medium 41.3 22.5 13.8 3.3 14.7 Rich 39.3 20.9 13.7 3.9 9.2 Richest 24.5 10.8 11.1 2.3 9.3 Mother’s education None 44.5 25.7 15.4 3.6 18.0 Primary 400 21.0 13.5 3.3 10.6 Secondary or + 29.8 14.4 11.3 2.4 8.7 Non-formal 30.1 19.8 16.2 2.9 Gender of child Male 40.3 21.3 14.8 3.4 - Female 36.0 19.4 12.1 2.8 - Age group Below 6 months 4.7 1.1 8.7 1.8 - 6 - 11 months 14.2 6.3 17.8 4.7 - 12 - 23 months 33.4 14.5 21.8 4.6 - 24 - 35 months 41.4 21.9 12.6 3.0 - 36 - 47 months 52.7 31.4 8.5 2.4 - 48 - 59 months 58.7 33.4 9.0 1.9 - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entire country 38.2 20.3 13.4 3.1 11.0 ================================================================ Sources: MICS2/2001, tables 7.1, 7.2 and 7.9 5. Main reasons for non-participation in ECCE programmes

The data presented so far shows few children get pre-school education (part 3) or

healthcare (part 4). The MICS2/2001 survey suggests three main reasons parents do not use these programmes even when available – absence of parents from the home, little involvement of fathers in early childhood care and parental ignorance.

Lengthy absence of parents from the home. Most parents say both of them have to work all day to provide for the family. While they are gone, younger children are left in the care of elder siblings or extended family members who are not always able to give healthcare.

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Little involvement of fathers in early childhood care. Traditionally only mothers look after children in early childhood and fathers do not wash or even feed them. Also, just the mother takes the child to the clinic. All this means extra work for the mother, who also has to work in the fields or the informal sector.

The ignorance of parents and the community generally of their duty and the need to supervise and train children at an early age. Very few people know early childhood care is a child’s right and a parental duty and that they can be punished if they do not fulfil it adequately. They do not know, for example, when they should take a child to be vaccinated.

More DRC children are now in pre-school education but still very few. The

percentage of children aged 3 to 6 who had been in such a programme was 1.3% in 1991/92, 1.5% in 1997/98 and only 3% were enrolled in 2001. MICS2/2001 said this was due to the optional nature of such education, the lack or geographical distance of nursery schools and the inability of parents to pay the high fees.

Article 18 of the Framework-Law says this level of education, although recognised by the government, is optional. Parents prefer to skip it because of the widespread poverty. There are also not enough nursery schools. Nearly all are privately-run and mainly in towns and cities and some children have to travel several kilometres to get to them. Unlike primary school children, nursery pupils aged 3 to 5 often have to be accompanied. In some lawless areas, mothers prefer to keep children with them, either at home or at work.

The main reason for non-attendance at nursery school remains the inability to pay the very high fees. In Kinshasa, for example (details later), fees at a good private nursery school are sometimes higher than primary or secondary school fees. Some children who enrol are forced to drop out during the year because they cannot pay all the quarterly fees. 6. Results of field survey of nursery schools

A quick survey of the organisation and operations of pre-school education was done from 19 to 30 November 2005, with the help of two graduate students from the psychology and educational science faculty of the University of Kinshasa, using a random sample of 15 nursery schools,11 13 in Kinshasa and two in Kimpese, 200 km away. The sample was not representative and the goal was not to draw conclusions valid nationwide, only to help understand the situation indicated in documents and in yearbook data. The visits to the schools, talking with the headmaster and a few teachers, and the questionnaire filled in by the researchers, provided data such as when the school was founded, and about the teachers, the curriculum, the staff and the fees. The founders of nursery schools

Article 49 of the Framework-Law on setting up private schools allows any person or body, Congolese or foreign, who presents political, legal, financial, material and educational guarantees under articles 51, 52 and 53, to found a nursery, primary or secondary school.

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Twelve of the fifteen schools visited were set up as profit-making concerns by people who sometimes had the school in their house. Among them were a retired teacher, a former primary school teacher, a nun, the wife of a teacher, a curate, a pastor and some with no training or professional experience in education. The oldest school was set up in 197712 and the newest in September 2005. Almost all the founders said they wanted to “help children and their parents and the country’s development.” All the nursery schools are part of school complexes that also include primary and secondary schools.

The Sigma complex, founded in 1996 by a civil servant with a psychology degree

also working in a Kinshasa firm, is an example. When his eldest daughter was 4, he wanted to give her pre-school education but did not find a suitable nursery school near the family home, so he decided to set one up himself. He hired a teacher and enrolled about 20 children between 3 and 5. The school now has 70 pupils in two classes, one for the 3 and 4-year-olds and the other for the 5-year-olds. The school complex also includes the primary school his eldest daughter now attends. The site is not very big so a secondary school is not planned and the pupils will have to go elsewhere for that.

The teachers

All the teachers at the schools visited were women. Most had a secondary school diploma (D6) but some had only done four years post-primary (D4) and others could not be easily categorised. Three teachers at the most expensive school said they had done some years’ post-secondary studies and some had begun as teachers in primary schools. Nearly all had special training in nursery education at a centre before or after being hired.

Kinshasa has several centres to train nursery teachers, all of them privately-run and

mostly set up by MEPSP officials.13 They run beginners’ courses of between 2 and 9 months as well as refresher courses. The national nursery education curriculum includes a timetable of lessons for Monday to Friday while Saturday is left for teachers’ training. The curriculum

The country had no national pre-school education curriculum until 1996 and nursery schools were randomly called kindergartens, crèches or nursery schools and had a variety of curricula based on foreign ones, mostly Belgian but also French, American or others, according to the founder’s country of training. In 1996, the official in charge of pre-school education on the National Commission for UNESCO designed a national nursery education curriculum, which was approved by the ministry and adopted as the official curriculum in the form of a large 150-page book that has been used ever since.

The curriculum includes 16 subjects to be taught and nine sorts of activities

(sensory, psychomotorial, language, maths or “pre-arithmetic,” plastic arts, everyday life skills and musical and physical movement). It also includes a timetable and ways for the teacher to assess herself and also the children, individually and together.

Though the curriculum is official and nationwide, the schools adapt it to the level of

training of the head and the teachers and how much teaching equipment and other material they have. Rich parents send their children to the most expensive schools that emphasise “academic” or cognitive skills such as language, reading and mental arithmetic, while other schools focus on singing, mime, dance, games and memorising words and phrases the

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children do not always understand. These schools are much more like crèches, where children are simply entertained.

All nursery schools operate Monday to Friday, from 8 to 11 in the morning, with parents dropping the children off at 0730 and picking them up at 1230. The children mostly run around the playground as they wait for their parents or older siblings after school and then go home on foot, by bus or by car.

Pupil numbers by school and classes

The survey of the nursery schools visited showed the number of pupils per school ranged from 5 to 441 and between 5 and 61 per class. All the school complexes had more primary than nursery pupils and primary classes were bigger. The national averages calculated from the Annuaire statistique are shown below:

Table 6.1: Number of nursery and primary pupils, classes and schools and average number of pupils by school and class ========================================================= Number Average Pupils Classes Schools (1) (1) (2)

(1) (2) (3) (2) (3) (3) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nursery 68,710 5,804 1,201 12 57 5

Primary 5,455,391 155,351 19,319 35 282 8

=========================================================

Source: Annuaire Statistique 2001/02, tables 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7

Except for two nursery schools with a single class for all children between 3 and 5

and two with one class for 5-year-olds and one for 3 and 4 year-olds, all the schools had three classes – one for each age. One of the schools, the most expensive and best-run, had a crèche for children under 3. More pupils enrol when they are older

In 13 of the 15 schools, there were more children aged 4 than 3 and more aged 5

than 4. Since pre-school is optional, parents seem to delay sending their children to nursery school for as long as possible. National figures (Table 6.2) confirm this: Table 6.2 Children enrolled by location and age ============================================================== 3 years 4 years 5 years 6/7 years14 Total ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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DRC 12,589 24,104 30,413 1,604 68,710 (18.3%) (35.1%) (44.3%) (2.3%) (100.0) Kinshasa 7,146 13,927 18,530 965 40,568 (17.6%) (34.3%) (45.7%) (2.4%) (100.0) Outside 5,443 10,177 11,883 639 28,142 Kinshasa (19.3%) (36.2%) (42.2%) (2.3%) (100.0) ============================================================== Source: Data calculated from Table I.2.1 in the Annuaire statistique 2001/02. School buildings, classrooms and furniture

Most nursery schools, like most private primary and secondary schools, stand on

private land, very often in private parcels in several converted rooms or annexes. When the school does well, the founder may build another floor to the building or look for a bigger plot of land in the neighbourhood so he can keep the same pupils. The description of nursery school A below gives a good idea of the condition some children study in, spending much of the day in surroundings so cramped that they have to take turns for recreation periods. Nursery school children usually have better conditions than older pupils and are less crowded on their benches and desks, perhaps because there is much more demand for primary school places. The appendix to a 1974 circular on nursery/crèche classes (RDIO, p.159) minutely details what a nursery school is to be like.15 If these norms were enforced, almost all the nursery schools we visited would have to close. Distance between home and school

Children in the poorest neighbourhoods walk to the nearest school, sometimes with a parent but usually with an elder sibling or older children attending the same school. Elsewhere, some parents drive their children several kilometres to the best schools, often on their way to work. As noted in part 5, the remoteness of nursery schools is one reason they do not get so many pupils. Transport is difficult in Kinshasa and nursery children and an elder are often seen hitching rides to or from school. One school arranged for school buses but this did not last long. School fees

The RESEN report said parents paid virtually all the cost of educating their children at all levels and more surprisingly, in all kinds of schools, government or private. In the 15 schools surveyed, fees (known locally as minerval) range between $13 and $200 a quarter in Kinshasa, not including the cost of uniform and school materials which parents must buy.

Article 1 of ministerial decree EDN/CABMIN/EPSP/006/97 of 13 August 1997 says parents must pay school fees, operational and housing costs, school insurance, the cost of various jobs and the cost of participation in exams and examining boards. The decree

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does not mention the salaries of teachers and other staff (known as “motivation costs”), which parents also have to pay. Because the schools are also commercial businesses, parents have to pay investment costs too.

The education Framework-Law incorporates the main parts of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) except the one that says primary education should be free and compulsory (article 28). Article 115 of the framework-law only says education is compulsory for children between 6 and 15 and does not say it is free of charge. Languages used in teaching

All the nursery school heads said in the questionnaire they used French to teach in. But three formulas are used. (1) French is the only teaching language in nursery schools where the children are from educated and well-off families. (2) A combination of French and the national language, Lingala, is used in most schools in poor neighbourhoods of Kinshasa. (3) A mixture of French and Kikongo, a national language, is used in Kimpese. Many children come from households that do not speak French. In the first weeks of school, teachers start by teaching basic orders, such as “sit down” and “stand up,” and the children gradually come to understand French. But many children revert to local languages after school.

Languages are a problem that has not yet been adequately resolved. In most cases, teaching is done in one of the four national languages in the first two years of primary school and French takes over from the third year. But many schools adopt French as the teaching language from the first year of primary. Children are generally exposed to three languages – French (the official language and teaching language in school), one of the four national languages (Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili, Tshiluba) which the child uses in everyday life and in some cases a vernacular language used at home. Advantages of pre-school education First-year primary teachers at the schools visited were asked about the difference between pupils who had been to nursery school and those who had not. Most said a big difference was obvious from the first day, with the pre-schoolers used to the classroom atmosphere, more familiar with school materials, understanding teachers’ instructions better and expressing themselves more easily. But the difference narrowed after a time and a child’s temperament and innate qualities came to dominate. The difference also depended a lot on how good the nursery school was. The best ones stressed reading, writing and arithmetic more and their children mostly went on to good primary schools where all the pupils had had pre-primary education. The gap widens between social classes at this point. Pre-school education, which could have lifted up the children of poor and uneducated parents, simply increases the disparity. In some schools, the performance of pupils in the fourth year of primary was observed. A difference was seen not between nursery and non-nursery pupils but between different schools. In some, the children wrote their name and date of birth very well but in others failed to do so at all. Very few children from poor neighbourhoods of Kinshasa and in semi-rural schools know when they were born, as children from educated families do.

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The description below of several nursery schools shows clearly the disparity between establishments. Detailed description of some nursery schools16

School A

The School A complex, founded in 1988, is on unfenced land in one of Kinshasa’s semi-rural suburbs. It officially comprises a primary school and a nursery school with two classes, one for children of 3 and 4 and another for those aged 5. But lack of pupils means it only has one class for all children under 6.

The primary school has enough pupils each year, but not the nursery school, which has not been able to operate some years as a result. In 2004/05, only three children enrolled. During the holidays, the head went door-to-door explaining to parents the advantages of pre-school education and offering to allow them to pay the quarterly fees in instalments. This drew 35 children at the start of the 2005/06 school-year, but seven had dropped out by the time of the survey two months later for various reasons, mainly inability to pay the $13 quarterly fee.

The pupils are taught by a woman whose baby of a few months old is laid on a cloth on the floor in a corner of the classroom, which is a 3x3 metres with a single window no more than half a square metre. The children sit on two long planks, one supported by bricks and the other by two unsteady wooden legs; they use the wall behind them as back-rests. Those with slates rest them on their knees to write. On the ground in front of them are bottle corks, empty food cans and pieces of wood that are used as teaching materials.

The head proudly says the school is strictly following the MEPSP’s national curriculum, but in fact the children spend most of their time repeating phrases and singing songs after the teacher. Most of them have no slates, exercise books or coloured pencils. The walls are bare apart from one with traces of black where a blackboard once was. The children, unlike in nursery schools in the city, do not have smocks and more than half do not even have the compulsory blue and white uniform for all nursery, primary and secondary pupils – blue skirt and white blouse for girls and blue shorts and white shirt for boys. For the picture to be taken, the teacher chooses children with uniform and has them sit on the better bench.

The teacher has a secondary school graduation certificate plus a few months of special training at a centre about 15 years ago and is paid $18 a month. At the start of the year, she teaches in lingala and gradually introduces French expressions such as “sit down” and “stand up” that she translates for the new pupils, knowing none will speak French as soon as school finishes. The classes run from 0800 to 1100 Monday to Friday. School B

While her husband was doing a doctorate at the Université Libre in Brussels, Alpha did a course in nursery teaching at a special school. A few months after returning to the DRC, she found premises to open a nursery school of three classes for children of 3, 4 and 5. She intended to limit the school to this, which was her training. With the help of

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teaching material and other equipment she brought back from Europe, the school, in a middle-class neighbourhood, was one of the best.

The government had not by then come up with a nursery education curriculum so the school adapted a Belgian one. Teaching was in French with translation for children who did not understand very well. The pupils took to French very quickly. Dressed in their pink smocks, they had their own chairs and small desks. Their pictures and drawings were pinned on the classroom walls.

At the end of the first year, the parents of the 6-year-olds had to enrol their children in primary schools. After looking at those in the neighbourhood, the parents asked Alpha to open one herself so the children could continue in the same familiar surroundings. So nursery school B became school complex B which, 12 years later, has all classes up to the 6th year of secondary school. But the nursery school remains the core of the establishment.

When Alpha died in 2004, her university teacher husband took over the running of the school complex and the most senior kindergarten teacher took over the nursery school. She says it was not easy to begin with. The biggest problem was, as ever, payment of fees, which had been $50 a quarter for a long time. Nursery schools of similar quality in wealthier neighbourhoods were charging up to four times as much, but the different surroundings had to be taken into account. Some School B parents offered TV sets and their own jewellery in lieu of cash they did not have. School C School C is one of the oldest and best schools in Kinshasa, with good teachers and pupils. It was founded in 1977 by a Belgian who ensured that standards were maintained after she left the country. The complex has secondary, primary and nursery levels in two schools in the two best areas of the capital. This year, the nursery section has 82 children in four classes – two for 3-year-olds, one each for 4- and 5-year-olds. The headmistress said numbers had fallen in recent years, perhaps because the fees were a high $200, just over 15 times more than at the cheapest nursery school in the survey and four times more than some good city schools that did not have as good a reputation and were in less wealthy neighbourhoods. A classroom at School C has everything you would expect to find in one in a developed country – furniture, educational material and teaching games. The village school

It was not possible to visit a genuinely rural nursery school, but in some villages

young children sit in the shade of a tree or under an open shelter. Some teachers use a slate as a makeshift blackboard and the children write or draw on the ground and sit on a long wooden or bamboo bench or else bring their own little stool. 7. Conclusion

“Despite the political upheavals and violent conflict, the collapse of government revenue and the economic recession of the past 15 years, the DRC’s education system is still slowly moving forward at all levels. This striking fact deserves notice since most of the country’s social services do not work. The continued expansion of the education system is especially impressive as the other social

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sectors have stagnated or are slipping backwards and the economic decline is serious and long-term. The country has also had very little development assistance for more than a decade and the education system has been run entirely with local resources.”

This extract from the RESEN document (p. 45) is a tribute to the efforts of DRC

parents who, despite social and economic problems, are setting up private schools and funding the entire education of their children. The visits to several schools showed the vigorous and enterprising spirit of their founders and the sacrifices of those who send their children to them.

But behind this “impressive expansion” lurks a threat to quality in the wide difference between what individual schools offer. Despite government intentions, as shown by the issuing of educational regulations and the existence of relevant ministerial departments, the services provided are far from enough to meet the needs of early childhood and youngsters in general. Many children in some of these schools study in conditions that can quite seriously damage their physical and intellectual development.

Children from some poor families can also go to their neighbourhood school but

these are very often much less good (for equipment, teaching and hygiene) than ones in rich or less poor areas. The first priority must therefore be to urgently ensure that existing curricula meet minimum standards of reception and facilities. Surveys have shown that nursery education can help narrow the educational opportunity gap, but if poor children are badly served, the gap between rich and poor will continue to widen.

The second priority should be to boost the number of early childhood introductory

and educational programmes. But before increasing the number of schools, the quality problem must be dealt with. It is much easier to monitor quality when there are fewer programmes. Expansion must also benefit children with the least access to education – those in the countryside, those from poor uneducated families and other disadvantaged children. Since pre-school education is private and not free, these groups cannot be helped unless costs are reduced. Money must also be found to provide such affordable and good quality education.

It would be unrealistic to expect the government to fund ECCE any time soon,

before free primary education is introduced. Expansion must therefore be paid for under the present “commercial” system funded entirely by parents. We have seen that low costs do not necessarily mean low quality and that many “cheap” pre-school establishments provide adequate services. Examples of affordable pre-school education can be found inside and outside the DRC that could be a model in boosting supply. These priorities (monitoring quality, opening more schools and cutting costs) require greater commitment all round, by the government, researchers and planners, aid donors, families and the community at large.

The government must give pre-school education the same priority as all other levels instead of ignoring it. It should not limit its quality-control to issuing regulations and decrees. It cannot yet provide free pre-schooling for all but it should at least see that the sector’s teachers and staff are trained, initially and on the job, by meeting their needs in courses at teacher training institutions. It can also create favourable conditions for opening more nursery schools in rural areas and poor urban neighbourhoods encourage private sector efforts and give clear guidelines.

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Educational researchers and planners should study pre-schools that get the best results for the least cost and follow their example. Using surveys done elsewhere and community models abroad, they can suggest ways to organise nursery schools and make them more efficient and effective. It may also be better to teach in a national or even local language familiar to children and teachers rather than chanting day after day words and sentences in a language they do not understand very well.

As long as pre-school education is funded by parents, money from aid donors will

be vital if the many disadvantaged children are to get ECCE. The DRC has a very large number of orphans and other children in difficulty that cannot be cared for either by the government or the community. The country must not allow such a large proportion of its population to grow up in ignorance and poverty. That would create a time-bomb.

As the DRC enters a period of reconstruction and peace, when the international community and the country’s various factions have decided to end the long years of political instability, economic decline and armed conflict, it is important to understand that education is one of the most reliable guarantees of sustainable development. Recent research has clearly shown that children find their path in life during their earliest years.

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Bibliography

World Bank. 2005. Le renouveau du système éducatif de la République Démocratique du Congo: Priorités et alternatives. Africa Region Human Development Department. Working Paper 68. * International Rescue Committee 2003, Mortality in the DRC: Results from a Nationwide Survey. Mukeni-Beya, Marie-Rose. 2002. Plan d’action de l’éducation pour tous, Volet: Education préscolaire; protection et éveil de la petite enfance. Kinshasa. UNDP. 2004. Conflits armés en République Démocratique du Congo: Le rôle des facteurs économiques et leçons pour la reconstruction. Kinshasa. Democratic Republic of Congo, Department of Primary and Secondary Education. 1990. Annuaire statistique de l’éducation 1987/88. Education III Kinshasa Project. Democratic Republic of Congo, Ministry of Primary, Secondary and Professional Education and National Commission for UNESCO. 1996. Programme National – Enseignement maternel. Kinshasa. Democratic Republic of Congo, Ministry of Education, Secretariat for Primary, Secondary and Professional Education. 1998. Recueil des directives et instructions nationales. 3rd edition, ELISCO, Kinshasa. Democratic Republic of Congo, UNICEF, USAID. 2002. Enquête nationale sur la situation des enfants et des femmes MICS2/2001. Rapport d’analyse. Kinshasa. Democratic Republic of Congo, UNICEF. 2003. Analyse de la situation des enfants et des femmes (ASEF/SACW), Rapport général. Ministry of Planning. Kinshasa. Democratic Republic of Congo. 2005. Projet du code de protection de l’enfant. Ministry of Social Affairs. Kinshasa. Democratic Republic of Congo. 2005. Annuaire statistique 2001/2002, Ministry of Primary, Secondary and Professional Education. Kinshasa. * This report is known by its abbrevation, RESEN, from an earlier report by the DRC government called Rapport d’état du système éducatif national. 1 Figures taken from Conflits armés en République Démocratique du Congo. Le rôle des facteurs économiques et leçons pour la reconstruction, UN Development Programme, Kinshasa, 2004. 2 Taking the population structure of the MICS2/2001 (p. 47), orphans under 14 number 818,043 and “cared for” children 2,374,963. The first figure is 3.1% and the second 9% of (18.9%+15.2%+13.9% =) 48% of 54,976,000.

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3 The circular was issued before the national curriculum was drawn up in 1996. There is no sign of any curriculum set before the circular. 4 An area of 497,227 km² (the size of Cameroon). 5 Maniema province did not respond to the survey. 6 These figures – the number of classes divided by number of teachers – seem too high. They mean that each teacher looks after about two classes (except in Kasaï Oriental). 7 The percentage of girls is very high in this province. 8 Mukeni-Beya, pp. 7-8. 9 2% in mines, 3% in industry, 3% in services, 8% in business, 60% in the informal sector and 70% in traditional agriculture. 10 The 1st article of ministerial decree MINEPSP/CABMIN/00100940/90 of 1 September 1990 stipulates that first-shift classes are from 0730 to 1215 and second-shift ones from 1315 to 1715 (RDIO p. 217). 11 The schools and school complexes were: Lemba: Mont Amba, Diabena, Sacré-Cœur Matete: Lukeni, CASI, Bambino Ngaba: Saint Isidore, Moyo Kisenso: Onema, Mobokoli, Gloria Christian School Selembao: Betyna Limete: Aurore Kimpese: IME and CBCO nursery schools 12 One of the oldest pre-primary classes, at the Massamba schools, was opened in the 1960s in Kinshasa. It was first called a kindergarten, then a nursery school/crèche, and finally a nursery school, the term now used all over the country. 13 These are ministry officials in charge of pre-school education departments (such as inspection, curricula and teaching materials and the national commission for UNESCO). 14 The Annuaire statistique notes the presence of some children of 6 and 7 in the nursery schools. But there are very few – nationwide 1,524 aged 6 (2.2%) and 80 aged 7 (0.1%). 15 It says classes must be shielded by a partition, the school premises 12.500 m2 for 150 pupils (83.3 m² per pupil), with sheltered recreation areas when it is raining, the height of the classroom between 3 and 3.50 m with a ceiling and with windows facing north and south and 60-80 cm from the ground. The pupil’s chair must be 30 cm high with a 25x25cm seat, the table 46 cm high and measuring 35x35 cm, the toilets far enough away from the classrooms and comprising one or two for girls and the same for boys, with one washbasin per class. 16 The names of the schools have been replaced by letters. Their real names and addresses can be obtained from the author.

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