Despite preparations having taken place under difficult conditions, students in North and South Kivu are relieved to have avoided going through a year without school activity.
In the war-ravaged eastern DR Congo, the special session of state examination for the self-taught secondary school students has been held this in areas controlled by the M23 rebels, in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu since Tuesday.
The students have been relieved to seat for exam which has been postponed due to the current conditions in the east of the country.
Chantal Murekatete, the AFC/M23 leader and senior advisor to the provincial governor who presided over the ceremony for the launch of the exam, assured the locals and students of the liberation movement’s high regard for education.
“Education is apolitical, so it is in this spirit that we all act, because our children must study and take their exams in peace, regardless of the space in which they find themselves. In some provinces, this test took place a little earlier, but I believe that everything is stabilizing and that, for the continuation of the other tests, everything will go very well,” he said.
For the educational province of North Kivu 1, 362 self-taught students from the territory of Rutshuru and the cities of Goma and Kigali in Rwanda sat for the exam.
