Poverty in DRC: 64% of parents not ready for the start of the school year (Target Sarl)

Kinshasa, August 17^th, 2025 (CPA).- 64% of parents have said they are not ready to send their children back to school because of poverty caused by unemployment and low incomes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a survey report by Target Sarl consulted on the weekend by CPA. ‘Most parents (64%) say they are not yet ready for their children to start the new school year. This difficulty is mainly due to two major problems: continuing insecurity in certain areas and poverty caused by unemployment, low incomes and a lack of opportunities to earn money,’ it is read. According to the source, the fact that few parents feel truly ready shows how financial and security difficulties complicate the organisation of the start of the school year. ‘In some provinces, this situation is even more difficult: Sud-Kivu 74%, Nord-Kivu 70%, Kongo Central 74% and Kasaï 72%.  In these regions, many parents do not have the necessary means to meet their children’s school needs,’ the source has pointed out. It has specified that in Equateur 49%, Haut-Katanga 57%, Kinshasa 61% and Tshopo 49% of parents say they are not yet ready.  During this survey on the ‘preparation for the start of the school year,’ conducted from July 22^nd to August 4^th, a sample of 1,540 people representative of the Congolese population of 18 years and older has been interviewed. CPA/ODM