The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of Africa's largest countries, rich in minerals. But forty years of poor governance, economic collapse and exploitation brought civil war, fuelled by external interests. Millions died, were abducted or abused - many of them children. Ongoing sporadic conflict is balanced by hope for elections. We're working to help the DRC government rebuild both schools and the finance systems to support education.

We aim to increase the number of children - especially girls and those involved with armed groups - enrolling in school and to help more of them complete formal education.We will help introduce accelerated learning to speed older children through school. We will build schools, provide facilities and help communities support education.

"When the men took us, they wouldn't let us leave"
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Our target

We need the international community to create a climate where the Democratic Republic of Congo can deliver its education targets for 2010.We will support the Congolese government as it works to:

increase its funding for education to 25% of national budget
bring all children formerly involved with militias back into their schools and communities
close the gender gap in education.

Our direct practical work with community and government partners will help 79,000 more Congolese children go to school by 2010, and offer these plus 184,000 others a better and more relevant education.

How Democratic Republic of Congo measures up

65% of children are believed to be enrolled in school
Only 56% of girls were enrolled, compared to 72% of boys
94% of teachers have some training
9-19% of pupils fail to complete primary school
11-17% of pupils in each grade have to repeat the year
On average there is one primary school teacher per 35 pupils

Full details

DRC
country briefing

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