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More
Minuses Than Pluses Before Dakar in Congo
By Lyne Mikangou
Inter Press Service
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BRAZZAVILLE, Apr 11 (IPS) - Like many countries, Congo-Brazzaville
is preparing to attend the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal,
from Apr. 26 to 28. But this central African country will have
more problems than breakthroughs to report. |
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Congolese non-governmental organisations (NGOs), working in
education and school personnel unions, have called for a ''week
of action'' in Brazzaville to alert the national and international
community of the need for guaranteed universal education.
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As a prelude to the global education summit, the African Student
Parents' Association (FAPE) and a coalition of education NGOs
organised a week of events from Apr. 5-10.
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''The world will sit up and listen to the ideas which come
out of Dakar. It will be an important, not-to-be missed event,
especially for a country like the Congo, which is still reeling
from a newly-ended civil war and whose educational system
is in total disarray,'' said Martin Itoua, the president of
FAPE, whose headquarters are in Brazzaville.
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The Dakar meeting will take stock of the progress on the 'Education
for All' or EFA goal, although Congolese NGOs continue to
lobby government decision-makers to make education a priority.
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A petition was drafted by the Congolese NGOs demanding multilateral
support for rebuilding the country's decaying educational
system.
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The petition, signed by some one hundred NGOs, urges the government
to place a higher priority on literacy and the informal education
of young people and adults, to provide educational institutions
with teaching materials, and to computerise the educational
system.
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Also among the petition's recommendations are improved wages
and working conditions for teachers, a guaranteed school calendar,
classroom hours, and greater involvement of civil society
in management of the educational system.
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In addition, the NGOs are also calling on development aid
organisations to help the Congo rebuild after having been
destroyed by civil war.
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Other points covered in the petition are the radical reduction
or outright cancellation of Congo's debt in order to reverse
the cycle of poverty and conflicts.
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Justin Koumba, the president of the National Transition Council
(CNT-Transitional Parliament), declared that school attendance
rates in the Congo are constantly dropping. The rate for girls
is even worse, he says.
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''We must recognise that we're not doing enough to reach those
thousands of children still working in the fields or wandering
the streets or our cities,'' says Koumba, who is also the
chairperson in charge of coordinating citizen group NGOs.
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According to him, ''We're not doing enough to improve the
working conditions of teachers, who toil in overcrowded classrooms
for pathetic salaries.''
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According to a 1999 report written on the EFA programme by
FAPE, together with the UN children's agency, UNICEF, it appears
that the school enrollment rate in the Congo, one of the few
African countries where it used to be 100 percent, dropped
to 78.9 percent in 1998.
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Conflict and its aftermath also increased the illiteracy rate
-- 24.9 percent. Literacy for men is pegged at 83.1 percent,
while for women, the rate is 67.2 percent. The average dropout
rate is 7 percent.
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Koumba reaffirmed the need for basic education for all children.
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''The most important thing we can do for these children, who
lack almost everything, is to give them a basic education
adapted to their needs. It's their right, and it's our duty,''
he declared.
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He also acknowledged that education is probably the most effective
means of keeping population growth under control, reducing
infant mortality, eliminating poverty, and nurturing democracy,
peace, and sustainable development.
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The Congolese public are waiting impatiently for these recommendations
to be put into practice.
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''Too many recommendations, too little action,'' says Romuald
Okoti, a teacher in a local primary school.
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''I'm tired of all these conferences and other forums which
sometimes are just so much talk. Even though goals get set
and the same things get stated over and over, there is no
effort to make all the talk a reality,'' he says.
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This article
is free of copyright restrictions and can be reproduced provided
that Inter Press Service is credited. |
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