Hundreds of secondary school pupils on Thursday demonstrated outside the Democratic Republic of Congo’s parliament, demanding the resumption of lessons three weeks into a teachers’ strike.
The children chanted statements like, ‘We want to study,’ as they stormed up the steps and into the debating chamber.
Videos shared by journalists on social media showed them being met by the parliament’s deputy speaker.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that Congolese schools officially reopened on October 4, but lessons are yet to begin in many institutions as teachers have been striking for higher wages.
Schools minister Tony Mwaba has warned those participating in walkouts that they could be struck off the payroll altogether.
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He has so far not responded to an opposition senator’s proposal to replace strikers with new teachers.
President Felix Tshisekedi has made free primary-school education central to his policy since September 2019, at an estimated cost of $2.6 billion per year — compared with a total government budget of almost $7.0 billion in 2021.
Pressure group Fight For Change (Lucha) said that ‘free education is suffering from a lack of planning,’ and called on the government to find “appropriate temporary measures to save the new school year”.
The government has accused the leaders of religious groups, who administer most primary schools, of being behind the strike. They deny this.
Addressing the students, the first vice-president of DR Congo’s national assembly, Jean-Marc Kabunda, urged them to go home saying this was not their fight:
‘You do not belong in the street, you belong at school and if you are not at school, you should be at home,’ he said.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK