Under the national law, primary education is free for children enrolled in public institutions. However, in practice, this is not the case. UNHCR's strategy for educational assistance requires that all refugee children attend public schools. However, as urban refugees predominantly live in the periphery of Lubumbashi and Kinshasa, where public schools are far from refugee homes; the majority are thus enrolled in state-approved private schools. This poses a challenge for parents to pay school fees. University / tertiary education remains a major gap because refugees lack the means to cover all fees.
UNHCR’s cash support to parents strengthens the refugee parents' abilities to take charge of their children's education with dignity and enable them to pay fees, uniforms and supplies. Parents pay various expenses including insurance, registration, subsistence and transportation fees. In the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years, 1,197 primary school-aged refugee children (138 in Kinshasa, 715 in Lubumbashi, 189 in Goma, 155 in Bukavu), including 145 finalist students from primary school received cash assistance. 604 eligible adolescents at secondary level (132 in Kinshasa, 136 in Lubumbashi and 156 in Goma), including 51 secondary school finalists, received cash assistance from UNHCR. Seven refugee scholarships were obtained from the private sector through advocacy efforts with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and three refugee youth students were supported by UNHCR in Kinshasa to complete the graduate cycle. At the end of the 2017-2018 school year, the primary school enrolment rate was more than 90% in urban areas, the success rate was 92%. As for secondary school, the success rate is 86%.
In Gabon, a total of 214 schoolchildren were identified in 2018, including 100 at primary level, 91 at secondary level and 23 for vocational training. 62 students whose parents are vulnerable were supported for the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years: 12 students (2 girls and 10 boys) at the elementary level, 19 students (12 girls and 7 boys) at the secondary level and 31 students (20 girls and 11 boys) are supported in vocational education. Advocacy was conducted with the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training on Refugee Rights in Education to facilitate the transfer of students from private schools to public schools. Refugee families have also been sensitized to ensure that students are enrolled in public schools. So, Eleven (11) refugees were registered for secondary public institutions for the 2018-2019 academic year. During the participatory evaluation of December 2018, refugees reported that their children are increasingly receiving the same treatment as nationals with regard to enrolment in public institutions and provisions of refugee law texts are respected in schools. Parents who want to keep their children in private schools are informed that they will pay the full costs.
UNHCR will continue to advocate with the Government to assume its responsibility to ensure access to quality education for refugee children, including inclusion in the humanitarian response and development plan, as per SDG 4. In 2019, with support for empowerment, UNHCR agreed to continue paying the tuition fees for the first semester for those already receiving assistance. Each family will need to save money to pay for their children's schooling in the following years, because assistance will be provided to children from households with reliable income or those from parents with special needs who are not able to manage a generating activity or unable to work.