Why payroll fraud in the DRC's education sector will be hard to fix

By Cyril Owen Brandt, Associate Researcher, Institute of Development Policy, University of Antwerp
Gauthier Marchais, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex
Jacques Taty Mwakupemba, PhD candidate, Université catholique de Bukavu
Stylianos Moshonas, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Development Policy (IOB), University of Antwerp
Tom De Herdt, Professor, University of Antwerp

The primary and secondary education sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) faces massive challenges. These include insufficient budgets, payroll fraud, a lack of infrastructure and teaching material, and poor opportunities for teacher professional development. Educational officials aren’t being held accountable for policy failures.

One of the biggest hurdles has to do with the teacher payroll. In general, the country’s teachers – more than 500,000 – work under dire conditions. In particular, a significant number of school teachers in the DRC have gone without…

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