Access to education for children in the DRC is a big obstacle. The public education system is plagued by poor quality teachers, inadequate infrastructure and lack of resources. The void left by the state in the area of education is being filled by private entities. Because 65% of primary schools are private, the costs prohibit many children from receiving an education.
Nationally:
Only 4.9% of children between ages 3 - 5 are attending early childhood education programs.
Although 80% of children between ages 6 - 11 report going to school, only 57% complete their primary education.
Less than 1% of children live in homes where they have at least 3 books.
7 out of 10 children are not enrolled or have dropped out of school because their parents cannot afford to pay the school fees.
A World Vision Article on Education in the DR Congo
I alluded to “The Big Ask” last month. As we have opened our Academy, we have 500 primary children (a 150% increase) and 120 secondary students.
The picture on the left was taken November 4th 2020. We can’t fit all of our children in this picture nor in our current school building. The over flow of students are using our church building with partitions. The half-finished wooden structure seen below is our most urgent need. This will house the rest of the students. To finish this temporary building we need $1,200.
“The Big Ask:” We need a second school building built on our Christian Academy campus. Please consider giving towards this large project. If you know of a foundation or or a philanthropist or sit on a committee for a foundation and could help us to write a grant for this project, please let us know. We are in need of $37,000.