“Violence in schools is a barrier to the right to education in DRC”

I attended an important exchange meeting at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Franco-Congolese in Kinshasa at the beginning of May. It was organised by the NGO Téléphone vert for NGOs working in the field of violence against women.

I was invited as the Secretary General of “REPER” (Realités and Perspectives), an NGO dedicated to the promotion of education and also as a Global Youth Ambassador. 

The purpose of this exchange was to launch their activities and to create partnerships with other structures.

The meeting started with a brief story about Téléphone vert, where the coordinator gave the participants two contact numbers which victims of violence can call in order to be directed for care. Next, each participating NGO had to explain its commitment on this issue.

I spoke about REPER, which plans to install mailboxes in secondary schools in order to allow students to talk freely and anonymously about their experiences of violence. This project seeks to reduce the amount of violence in school. 

We believe that violence in schools is a barrier to the right to education. Additionally it can harm the wellbeing of children and have harmful consequences in adulthood. 

Violence can take the form of the physical, psychological and through sexual harassment. This does not allow the DRC to offer Congolese children an inclusive and equitable quality education. 

To my big surprise, this project caught the attention of Téléphone vert, who then contacted us after this exchange. We are in the process of discussing how they will conduct some school-level activities with us to reduce this phenomenon in Congolese schools.