The Boyokani Primary School in Mbandaka, Équateur Province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, only had 358 students (186 girls and 172 boys) in the 2021-2022 school year.

The 2022-2023 school enrollment is double that of the previous year, i.e., 885 students (380 girls and 505 boys), thanks to the construction of new classrooms with the support of UNICEF and accelerated funding from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

Before the school’s renovation, the children learned in classrooms that offered minimal protection. When the weather worsened, especially from September to January, students were forced to go home because of the rain that seeped from roofs made of palm fronds, making teaching impossible, and that increased the danger of flooding.

As the school enrollment has doubled, the director plans to put the school into double shifts in order to optimize its capacity.

In addition to the learning times that have increased with the number of students, the teachers and parent committees have also benefited from capacity building activities on school management, as well as from the implementation of income-generating activities (IGA) that have contributed a portion to the school’s operations and to promoting the education of the village’s vulnerable children.

Ewange is 8 years old and has five brothers and five sisters. She already dreams of becoming a seamstress. This third-year student walks for an hour every day to join her classmates at Boyokani Primary School.

Before the school was renovated, her father, who works as a construction worker, saw no reason for her to go to school because she was learning very little and missed classes every time it rained. Her mother, a housewife, would like Ewange to stay at home to help her with housework.

While the school was under construction, COPA and the School Management Committee raised parents’ awareness of the importance of educating children, especially girls. In addition, the children were also given school kits (notebooks, pens, erasers, etc.) so that they could properly follow the lessons.

The construction of the school did motivate Ewange to learn better. The girls now have toilets ‘just for them’, and they are clean.

She also knows that she has the opportunity to really apply the hygiene rules because the school has access to water for hand washing.

When she finishes primary school, she plans to enroll in a vocational college/high school. For now, she knows she has to do her best to learn basic elementary school skills.