Seven million children across the vast country out of school - despite a 2010 government decision to make primary education free.

 

25 percent of the primary school-aged children and 60 percent of adolescents were not enrolled in classes.

 

The free education directive is supposed to cover the whole country except the capital, Kinshasa, and the city of Lubumbashi.

 

"Since independence [in 1960] to date, the government has not prioritized school expansion and building of new institutions," OrnelieLelo, communications officer for an education NGO in the capital, SOS Kinshasa, told IRIN. "In Kinshasa, for instance, the number of public schools is much lower than private schools: 29 percent are public while 71 percent are private."

 

"In 2010, the budget for education was 7.2 percent of the total national budget; in 2011, after sustained advocacy and lobbying of parliamentarians by trade unions and NGOs, it went up to 10 percent of the total budget. Unfortunately, the disbursement of the funds is another story,"  JacquesTshimbalanga said.

 

 "Although 7.2 percent of the budget was pledged in 2010, we discovered after investigations that not even 6 percent was actually disbursed. This year, the budget for primary education actually went down by 28 percent compared to the allocation of 2010 and this is why we are concerned about this free education decree."

 

$35-40 is the average pay for teacher in the Democratic Republic of Congo

 

The teachers’ union entered into an agreement in 2004 with the government for teachers to be paid a minimum of $208 monthly but six years later, this has not been implemented.

 

43 percent of sixth-grade pupils lacked basic knowledge of French, mathematics and general knowledge.