Kinshasa, May 15th, 2025, (CPA) – Certificates of merit for excellence will be awarded to the best girls in several schools in the city of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, from May 20th to 22nd, 2025, by the Julie Pinga Pinga Foundation, as part of its ‘Héroïnes de l’Ombre – Édition Excellence Scolaire’ (Heroines of the Shadows – School Excellence Edition) program, it was announced on Thursday.
‘Our team will be visiting schools in Kinshasa to award certificates of honour and encourage these rising stars. Because excellence deserves to be celebrated. Our girls are leaders in the making. Every brilliant student deserves to be honored. The aim of this program is to honor those pupils who, throughout the 2025 school year, have occupied first to third place in their class, and who are models of discipline in Kinshasa’s schools’, said Julie Pinga Pinga, President of the Foundation that bears her name. ‘The aim of this program is to honor those pupils who, throughout the 2025 school year, have been in first to third place in their class and who are models of discipline in Kinshasa’s schools’, she added. Through this project, this teacher by profession says she wants to encourage young girls and bright students to aim for excellence in their studies in order to shape their own destiny. ‘Every day, I measure the weight and beauty of this mission: to shape minds, shape destinies and sow seeds of hope in hearts that are sometimes broken’, said Ms Pinga.
Honoring excellence and inspiring youth
For the initiator of the project, ‘our girls are leaders in the making. In the shadows of the classroom lie true leaders, brilliant young girls who excel in silence and whose talents deserve to be recognized’, she added. The President of the Pinga Foundation said that being a girl and excelling among boys means building a better future and breaking down barriers. ‘It’s time to remind them and to let them know that they are a source of pride for their parents and role models for many other young girls in the Congolese community’, she continued.
Ms Julie Pinga Pinga became a teacher at the age of 18, then headmistress of a primary school at just 20. The ‘’Héroïnes de l’Ombre – Édition Excellence Scolaire‘’ program is an initiative that aims to promote academic excellence among young girls, by highlighting inspirational role models and offering resources and support for their personal and academic development. In the DRC today, NGOs are increasingly involved in combating gender inequality in the school environment through initiatives aimed at rewarding brilliant girls to encourage them to express their talent and boost their self-confidence. The aim of these programs is to create a future generation of empowered and inspired women leaders.