Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has damaged over 600 schools this year alone. Recently, 250 schools were affected in North Kivu, located in eastern DRC, according to UNICEF. The conflict forced thousands of children, along with their families, to be displaced. These schools have been either looted or damaged by the battle between the national army and the 23 March Movement (M23). At least 240,000 students have missed weeks worth of schooling. With their furniture damaged and textbooks burned, the schools are now being used for storage, kitchen, dormitories, weapons bases, etc.
Through the requirement from the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), M23 agreed to move out of several regions. This will allow many displaced families to slowly return to their homes. However, those families are still too afraid to send their children back to school in case violence starts up again. In order to reassure the families, the Ministry of Education and UNICEF partners are working together to provide aid and resources to these schools.
“Last month, access to education in eastern DRC has gone from bad to worse. Some schools that had already been affected in April haven’t fully recovered yet. And now, in other schools, the recent fighting has deprived Congolese children from access to education,” said Barbara Bentein, the UNICEF Representative in the DRC. “Bringing them back to school is vital to their protection – especially in troubled times,” she added. “When not at school, children from North Kivu are more at risk of being exploited, abused, and even, recruited.”
Creative Commons Love: Julien Harneis on Flickr.com
Written by Sera Yoo