O Highlights N JUNE 30, 1960, when the Congo became independent, it had fewer than 20 Congolese university graduates and only a few hundred Congolese secondary school graduates. Its two universities had been open but a few years and 6-year academic secondary education had been available to Congolese boys and girls for little more than a decade. Many had attended primary schools, but most had not done so long enough to achieve permanent literacy. Since independence, the Congo has experienced difficulties in administering its educational system. Although primary education has received most of the Congo funds voted for education, it has undergone no real improvement. At the secondary and postsecondary levels important changes have occurred. The Congolese have • Reformed the secondary educational structure and study programs. • Established several new postsecondary educational institutions. • Introduced new nondegree postsecondary courses to prepare needed middle-level personnel in various fields. • Rapidly expanded secondary and postsecondary enrollments. In bringing about the changes, the Congo has received considerable technical and financial aid from outside the country. The Congolese secondary and postsecondary educational institutions are almost entirely dependent upon foreign teachers and most probably will remain so for many years. Bulletin 1966 No. 1 EDUCATIONAL (LEOPOLDVILLE) Specialist in Comparative Education for Africa South of the Sahara U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE JOHN W. GARDNER, Secretary Office of Education HAROLD HOWE II, Commissioner Superintendent of Documents Catalog No. FS 5.214: 14109 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1966 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Foreword T HE PRESENT BULLETIN is one of the Office of Education's long-established series of publications on education in other countries and one of a growing number of such publications on education in the newly independent and developing countries of the world. This bulletin deals with education in the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville)—renamed as of August 1, 1964, the Democratic Republic of the Congo-the great troubled country of Africa which in recent years has attracted the entire world's attention and concern. It describes the educational system developed for Congolese during the colonial period, a system that unquestionably affected the course of postindependence events in the Congo; and it reviews postindependence educational developments that unquestionably will affect the course of events in the country's future. Based on written materials available to the Office of Education, the present bulletin is a documentary study carried for the most part to the end of 1964. Among the materials were a large number of Congo Government, United Nations, UNESCO, and other documents not widely distributed in the United States. The Office hopes that the information thus brought together in a single publication will prove helpful to persons interested in the Congo and other developing countries. |